RSVP for workshop on testing your business idea
by Anna Oakes
Learn the steps necessary to test your business idea at a free
workshop from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, July 30, at the High Country Workforce Development Board
office at 468 New Market Blvd.
To attend the workshop, RSVP by email to (lauri@brwia.org)
Workshop leader Ines Polonius of Arkansas-based alt.Consulting will discuss how to conduct a thorough feasibility study to test all aspects of a business idea and determine if the business can be profitable.
In addition, all participants will receive alt.Consulting's step-by-step Feasibility Study Guide for free.
alt.Consulting is a nonprofit organization that provides customized, managerial assistance to rural-based and minority-owned businesses throughout the Arkansas and Mississippi Delta region.
Polonius has worked with more than 200 small businesses in manufacturing, distribution, service and retail.
The information she will be sharing would be helpful for anybody who is looking at starting a business, said Lauri Wilson, project manager for the Seeds of Change Southern Appalachia Initiative.
The workshop is a part of Heifer International USA's Seeds of Change Initiative, a $1.1 million grant awarded to the five-county area of Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany and Wilkes counties in North Carolina and Johnson County in Tennessee.
Awarded in October 2011, the grant program is currently in Phase I, during which Boone-based organization Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture and the Appalachian District Health Department are assembling a coalition of stakeholders to implement projects that support the initiative's goals.
To receive the grant's full amount of funding, the coalition must raise $125,000 in monetary donations and $125,000 in in-kind donations, and Heifer USA will provide a $250,000 match for the remaining four years of the initiative, or Phase II.
The multi-year initiative aims to support the emerging local food movement to foster economic development and improve access to nutritious, locally produced food among underserved populations, a 2011 news release said.
We're building a coalition across five counties to create jobs, reduce hunger and build a strong, sustainable food system through sustainable agriculture, Wilson said.
For more information about Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture, visit http://www.brwia.org.
To attend the workshop, RSVP by email to (lauri@brwia.org)
Workshop leader Ines Polonius of Arkansas-based alt.Consulting will discuss how to conduct a thorough feasibility study to test all aspects of a business idea and determine if the business can be profitable.
In addition, all participants will receive alt.Consulting's step-by-step Feasibility Study Guide for free.
alt.Consulting is a nonprofit organization that provides customized, managerial assistance to rural-based and minority-owned businesses throughout the Arkansas and Mississippi Delta region.
Polonius has worked with more than 200 small businesses in manufacturing, distribution, service and retail.
The information she will be sharing would be helpful for anybody who is looking at starting a business, said Lauri Wilson, project manager for the Seeds of Change Southern Appalachia Initiative.
The workshop is a part of Heifer International USA's Seeds of Change Initiative, a $1.1 million grant awarded to the five-county area of Watauga, Ashe, Alleghany and Wilkes counties in North Carolina and Johnson County in Tennessee.
Awarded in October 2011, the grant program is currently in Phase I, during which Boone-based organization Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture and the Appalachian District Health Department are assembling a coalition of stakeholders to implement projects that support the initiative's goals.
To receive the grant's full amount of funding, the coalition must raise $125,000 in monetary donations and $125,000 in in-kind donations, and Heifer USA will provide a $250,000 match for the remaining four years of the initiative, or Phase II.
The multi-year initiative aims to support the emerging local food movement to foster economic development and improve access to nutritious, locally produced food among underserved populations, a 2011 news release said.
We're building a coalition across five counties to create jobs, reduce hunger and build a strong, sustainable food system through sustainable agriculture, Wilson said.
For more information about Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture, visit http://www.brwia.org.