Chamber organizes workshop to help small businesses secure financing

Often, budding entrepreneurs have great ideas and the skills needed to provide a service to a community where the demand for that business is high, but they often lack the financial resources to get their plans off the ground.

The Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce is partnering with the University of Georgia Small Business Development Center to host a workshop aimed at securing that funding.

“We get requests all the time from people who are looking for access to capital to run their business, to start it, to expand it, or sometimes to keep it afloat,” said Lil Easterlin, Executive Administrative Director of the Development Authority of Jefferson County. “It’s so hard for small businesses to find what they consider a grant. We need to give them information on how to find money for their business, not just to run their business. These are the people (who are teaching this workshop) who know that.”

This free workshop, open to anyone who wishes to attend, will be held on Thursday 25th July at the McCollum Library in Wrens from 9am to 12pm.

The presentation is part of the state’s Small Business Credit Initiative program and is intended to provide information about different types of financing, including loans, lending programs and grants, according to organizers. The facilitators plan to address common myths and misconceptions about small business financing while also exploring the realities of what entrepreneurs may face.

“This workshop is all about what resources are available and how to access those resources,” Easterlin said. “Those are the kinds of questions we (at the chamber and the local development authority) get all the time.”

Easterlin pointed out that stories often appear in the news about a large, new industry receiving millions of dollars in subsidies or aid from various government agencies. However, those stories can be misleading to entrepreneurs looking for help starting a smaller business.

“These big subsidies and things like that are usually more about assistance that’s provided for infrastructure improvements to get them here,” she said. “It’s not people giving them money to run their business. It’s about making it more economically feasible to land them where we want them to land. It’s not money that goes to that business.”

And those big tax breaks or infrastructure subsidies generally go to huge projects that generate millions of dollars in tax revenue for the region, as well as dozens or possibly hundreds of jobs.

“Organizations like chambers of commerce and downtown development authorities are always looking for ways to support small businesses that employ two, five, 10 people, not 50. These small businesses are the largest part of our economy,” Easterlin said.

For more information or to register for this event, visit https://ugasbdc.training/aug/0503-002 or contact the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce at 478-625-8134.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Chamber hosts workshop to help small businesses secure financing