Entrepreneurial and Small Business Development Strategies

Date: January 24-25, 2019
Location: Fort Lauderdale


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This multi-faceted course explores the core aspects of entrepreneurial and small business development including value-add partnerships, technical assistance programs, financing, business incubation and more. Entrepreneurs and small businesses stimulate job creation, develop crucial innovations in both products and services and promote the diversification of the economic base. In this course, you will learn the financial and managerial tools economic developers use to create a climate that encourages entrepreneurial and small business development. Also, practitioners will examine the barriers they face and how communities can leverage their economic development resources to build highly integrated networks to help businesses thrive in the global economy.

 

Course Highlights:

• Identifying and addressing the needs of entrepreneurs
• Defining urban v. rural-focused entrepreneurial and small business strategies
• Managing technical assistance (e.g., economic gardening) programs
• Development and management of business incubators
• Understanding federal and state government resources (e.g., SBDCs)
• Financing programs including micro-lending, venture capital, and angel networks
• Creating a technical assistance tracking system to measure job growth and etc.

 

Agenda

8:30 am - 9:00 am

Registration

9:00 am - 9:15 am

Introductions

9:15 am - 10:30 am

Introduction to Entrepreneurship: Who are Entrepreneurs?

This course begins with a description and deeper analysis of entrepreneurial trends, survival rates, job creation, patents and etc. Specifically, this session will lay out the characteristics of entrepreneurs and small business owners, the barriers they face and how economic development organizations can promote entrepreneurial development by making their regions more fertile for entrepreneurs. Also, this session will review the different types of entrepreneurial businesses (e.g., survival, micro-enterprise, lifestyle, second-stage growth and etc.) to help practitioners better understand what resources are needed to assist an array of entrepreneurs.

10:45 am - 12:15 pm

The Role of Economic Development Organizations

This session will discuss the types of assistance (e.g., micro-lending, economic gardening, rural entrepreneurship, tech-based economic development, university connections/partnerships and etc.) typically available to entrepreneurs. In today's knowledge economy, the role entrepreneurs (e.g.: individuals that transform ideas into commercial and industrial uses) are key concerns to a community's business climate. Economic development organizations need to have an entrepreneurial and small business development strategy that augments the business climate of their respective community

12:15 pm - 1:30 pm

Lunch on your own

1:30 pm - 3:00 pm

Incubator Support

In order for businesses to be successful, they need to identify a location where it can operate, sell and/or manufacture products or services and where it can have access to a network of business support services. Incubators across the country support small and emerging businesses by fulfilling these basic needs. During this session attendees will learn how to develop business incubators to foster small business growth in their community.

3:15 pm - 4:30 pm

Assisting Growth Companies

This session will introduce attendees to economic gardening and other growth strategies and how they fit into a comprehensive entrepreneurial development strategy. Having a deep understanding of your regional labor market is critical to making effective economic development policy decisions. In addition, this session will help practitioners understand ways to benchmark their economic development strategies using multiple data points.

9:00 am - 10:15 am

Rural Entrepreneurship

Encouraging entrepreneurship is a growing strategy in rural America and beyond. This session addresses how to provide rural entrepreneurs and small business owners with the necessary skills to help them establish networks of business service providers, manage a wide-variety of clients and employ the most recent innovations in technology to help grow their businesses.

10:30 am - 12:00 pm

SBA Financing and Small Business Lending

Capital is critical at every stage of business development - start-up, expansion and to remain competitive. After evaluating how much cash a small business owner has on hand, an economic developer can guide owners to capital that can be used to translate business ideas into products and services, and purchase fixed assets, such as buildings and equipment. This session will highlight financial programs that support small business development and will teach you how to help make small businesses more attractive to private investors and lenders. Topics included are SBA programs and other traditional funding programs.

12:00 pm - 1:15 pm

Lunch on your own

1:15 pm - 2:30 pm

Financing and Equity Options for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses

There are other viable options for entrepreneurs to acquire small business development funding such as commercial banks, angel investors and SBTDC programs. This session will help practitioners better understand the diverse set of funding sources available. Also, this session will improve the practitioners understanding of what lenders and angel investors are typically looking for in a start-up venture.

2:45 pm - 4:30 pm

Interactive Case Study

This session will focus on targeting public and private resources to assist entrepreneurs and small business in different stages of growth and maturity. Practitioners need to treat entrepreneurs and small businesses differently depending on their level of growth and development. This session will help EDOs learn how to successfully diversify the business climate within their community and add to the overall distinctiveness of your economic base by targeting ED resources more effectively.

4:30 pm - 4:45 pm

Wrap-up and Certificates

* Agenda subject to change

**PLEASE NOTE: In order to receive full IEDC certification credit for this course and a certificate indicating course completion, participants must attend the entire course and stay through the final session on the last day. Please make travel plans accordingly.**

 

Instructors

Mo Collins
New Economy Specialist

Mo Collins is a New Economy specialist with more than 20 years of academic, non-profit and entrepreneurial experience. She speaks throughout the United States and Canada.

Collins served in progressive, senior-level roles at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) between 1997 and 2014. She raised more than $1M annually to support a wide array of entrepreneur support programs and launched multiple tech-based economic development initiatives. Many of these innovations have been scaled and licensed outside of Iowa, earning personal and programmatic awards from the International Economic Development Council (2014), the University Economic Development Association (2010, 2014), the Technology Association of Iowa, the Midwest Economic Development Council and Association of Small Business Development Centers.

Since 2010, Collins has trained and published for the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), the Economic Development institute (EDI) and a number of universities through the United States and Canada. She is a top tier trainer with these organizations. A prolific writer, Mo is a published academic and online author, writing on topics associated with technology innovation, networking and entrepreneurship ecosystems. Look for her upcoming book WE: Women Entrepreneurs, for release in spring 2017


Carol Kraus Lauffer
Principal
Business Cluster Development

Since joining Business Cluster Development (BCD) in 2002, Carol has helped 60 clients across the U.S. to plan and create successful strategies and programs that support entrepreneurship, create new businesses, move innovative products to market, and build strong ecosystems and clusters, resulting in economic diversification, job creation, technology commercialization, and economic growth. Prior to joining BCD, Carol was Managing Director of Panasonic’s corporate, venture-backed incubator in Cupertino, California and a Principal in its $100 million venture fund. Carol has 30+ years of experience in economic development. As a dedicated member of the industry, Carol has served on the boards of the International Business Innovation Association (InBIA, formerly NBIA) and the International Economic Development Council (IEDC). She held the post of Chair of the Board of Directors of InBIA in 2010-11. Carol is a course instructor for both organizations’ certification programs, and a frequent speaker on best practices for business acceleration/incubation, entrepreneurial support organizations and targeting technology clusters for economic development. In April 2015, InBIA honored Carol with the President’s Award for Lifetime Achievement, recognizing her significant contributions to the association and the industry. Carol earned a Master of City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania and a BA from Northwestern University.

 

Certification

This course meets the professional development requirements for the Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) exam. CEcDs earn recertification credits for participating.

 

Accommodations/Training Location

Pier Sixty Six
2301 SE 17 Street Causeway
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33316
Phone: (954) 525-6666
IEDC Room Rate: $235 single/double
Group Rate Cutoff: Wednesday, January 2, 2019

 


 

Registration

 

By December 14

December 15 - January 11

*After January 11

IEDC Member

$490

$630

$650

Nonmember

$640

$780

$800

Full Time Student**

$105

$125

$145


*Walk-in registrations will be accepted. Full payment must be made on-site in order to attend the course.
** Copy of current transcript required.

 

Individual paying by credit card: Click this button if you are registering as an individual IEDC member or nonmember and paying by credit card.

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Should you have difficulty registering online, please download the course registration form (PDF).

Refunds less a $75 cancellation fee will be issued for all cancellations received in writing to fax: (202) 223-4745 or email: prodev@iedconline.org at least 10 business days prior to the course - please allow 3-4 weeks. All registrations regardless of payment status are subject to the $75 cancellation fee. No refunds or credit transfers to a future course will be issued for cancellations received within 10 business days of the course. Telephone cancellations are not accepted. Attendee substitutions for a course may be made at any time prior to the course.