Towson University’s Outreach Blog

Marcia

Accelerating to the next level of small business growth can be a daunting task-especially in today’s economic environment.  While some entrepreneurs skillfully research and calculate each and every move, others seem to sense their moves and are guided by strong feelings of intuition.

Determining which companies have the best shot at attaining their business advancement goals was recently the task of an advisory board subcommittee formed by the Central Region Small Business Development Center (SBDC).

Vision, commitment, leadership and the ability to effectively hire and delegate were just a few of the qualitative factors considered.  Additionally, business owners who- held their own financially, understood their competition, had a well established market niche and took advantage of market opportunities- were also considered to be strong candidates.  But in today’s business environment it takes even more to be a successful entrepreneur.

The eight companies finally selected to participate in SBDC’s two-year strategic small business growth program appeared to have the “IT” factor.

• All had a very clear vision of where they are taking their company, the mission they want to accomplish and didn’t seem to doubt the directional moves they had made.
• Further, all demonstrated confidence and conviction in their ability to run a successful company, have a primary and/or recurring method of attaining revenue and didn’t allow financial risk to paralyze their thinking.
• And lastly, most have a person in place who they trust and who enables them to work more efficiently and strategically.

This being said, all of the newly selected CEO Accelerator program participants recognize they need additional assistance to strengthen and expand their companies’ operations.  Aided by this two-year program, they will receive help from a team of coaches, mentors and trainers who will foster their strategic growth plans.

The primary program goals are to poise these entrepreneurs to increase revenues and expand operations either through employees, access to capital or mergers and acquisitions. Training them to firm up organizational structures and operations, conduct needed research and create solid business development plans are just a few of the objectives.

After a battery of initial assessments, including a business culture survey, these selected program participants will embark on an eight-month journey to build a strategic growth plan.  Designed to take the peaks and valleys out of revenue streams and facilitate smoother, leaner operations, these plans will be critiqued by an advisory board of subject matter experts.

Hailing from a wide variety of industries-ranging from video production to healthcare assessments, energy audits, counseling, IT, international security and mechanical construction- the program participants are ready to begin the arduous task of evaluating every aspect of their business.

Any small business owner is welcome to join the training sessions which will be posted on the SBDC website- www.centralmdsbdc.org, along with SBDC’s other training seminars. To receive a listing of the training session topics, send your e-mail address, name and phone number to sbdcr@towson.edu.