Birmingham – The SBA Alabama District Office recognized graduates from two classes as part of the Emerging Leaders Initiative. On October 19, nine business owners graduated from the Birmingham class and on October 24, twenty graduated from the Mobile class. The Birmingham event was the third for the area while the Mobile event was the first one there. The Mobile class had the distinction of graduating all twenty business owners who began the class seven months ago.
The SBA Emerging Leaders Initiative is a 13-session, 7 month course of study that is designed to help business owners work “on their business not just in their business”. The final objective of the course is to provide the business owners with a Strategic Growth Action Plan that they can implement in their business over the next three years. Applicants are selected after an interview process and the program is offered at no cost to the business owners. They must have been in business at least three years, have employees and minimum annual revenues of at least $400,000.
Members of the Birmingham class came from Birmingham, Huntsville, Montgomery and Tuskegee while the Mobile class had members from Mobile, Baldwin County, Pensacola and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The Mobile class was held at facilities provided by the Mobile Chamber of Commerce. Rick Miller, the Mobile instructor, praised the business owners as outstanding examples for sheer determination, active involvement and teamwork. “Growth means more jobs and more investment for Mobile and the Gulf Coast,” Danette Richards, the Mobile Chamber’s host coordinator said.
SBA Alabama District Director Tom Todt had this to say about Emerging Leaders: “In my opinion, Emerging Leaders is one of the most crucial and successful programs we have available. It combines all three service aspects of SBA-counseling, capital access and contracting-in a real-world situation that forces them to take a hard look at what they have been doing, and what they can or should do instead or in addition to. Feedback we get from program participants is consistently positive, and that it made a significant improvement in the way they look at and manage their business. We can hardly wait to begin recruiting for next year’s classes in Birmingham and Mobile”.
Recruitment for the 2018 Emerging Leaders class will begin in January, 2018 and classes will begin in April. Interested business owners may contact David Ramp at the SBA Alabama District Office for details regarding registration at (205) 290-7393 and David.ramp@sba.gov .
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US Small Business Administration – Press Release
| Release Date: November 22, 2017 | Contact: David Ramp (205) 290-7393 |
| Release Number: 18-01 | Internet Address: http://www.sba.gov/al |
About the Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) was created in 1953 and since January 13, 2012 has served as a Cabinet-level agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation. The SBA helps Americans start, build and grow businesses. Through an extensive network of field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations, the SBA delivers its services to people throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam. www.sba.gov
