Help Is Always on the Way for Business
Published Aug 07, 2009
Loan programs, business incubators, workshops – even radio programs – support innovators and entrepreneurs in The High Ground.
Most small businesses and startups need two things: good advice and a source of capital. The latter can be found from the West Texas Coalition for Innovation and Commercialization’s Texas Emerging Technology Fund.
For example, the fund recently invested $1 million in Animal Innovations Inc., which will develop and market its technology at offices in the West Texas A&M Enterprise Center in Amarillo.
Also standing ready with funding advice and myriad other services are the Entrepreneur Alliance – a consortium of 10 resource organizations in Amarillo, Borger, Dumas and Perryton – and the Plainview/Hale County Industrial Foundation, which has brought together a coalition of economic development organizations to offer a start-to-finish approach to new-business development, the Plainview Entrepreneurial Guide Alliance, or PEGA.
“Entrepreneurism is also an important part of our regional history and will continue to be paramount as we move forward as a region,” says Ashton Allison, executive director of the Entrepreneurial Alliance. “Seed money is the lifeblood of any new business, and in today’s world of tight credit and limited equity financing, there has never been a more important time for us as resource organizations to help our regional entrepreneurs explore and exploit every financial resource available. But it doesn’t stop there. To be successful in this new economy, entrepreneurs must think and act differently in all areas of business, not just financing. We act as a front door to a complete package of entrepreneurial assistance.”
That “groupthink” approach helped lead to the creation of PEGA, representatives of its member organizations say.
“What makes this such a good network is that we have all the players in place,” says David Evans, the foundation’s executive director. “If they need help with retail space, we kick them over to the Plainview Chamber of Commerce. If they need help with training, they can go to the South Plains College workforce development center, and we can also connect them with our Main Street program. Someone will help all the way through.”
“We created PEGA to be a clearinghouse to get all this information to the individuals who otherwise would have to hunt it down on their own,” says Paul Henderson, workforce development coordinator.
The Plainview Chamber of Commerce also has joined with the West Texas Allied Communities, which also provides an array of services for the startup businessperson, adds Dee Blevins, executive director.
“It’s entirely free for the entrepreneur, and we have a facilitator who can connect these people with what they need,” Blevins says. “With PEGA, and then with WesTex, we have a system here that works quite well. We’ve even tied in all that with the university and other programs.”
The new businessperson also gets a shot at local celebrity. Every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m., radio station KKYN has a show devoted to showcasing new businesses or promoting entities and agencies that can help an entrepreneur get up and running.
Story by Joe Morris
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