Local entrepreneurs get help from SBDC

Joining hands with the Commonwealth Development Authority in stirring economic activities on the islands, the Northern Marianas College-Small Business Development Center is cooking up a program that would assist local entrepreneurs invest their money right.

NMC-SBDC staff consultant Dirk Sharer said they expect to sign up over 25 participants to the training program scheduled on June 26 at the Center’s conference room amid the need for fresh business ideas due to the persistent slow recovery of the CNMI economy.

Mr. Sharer said NMC-SBDC has designed the workshop to particularly help and guide local businessmen where and how to rightfully invest their money, in light of CDA’s increased efforts to encourage the entry of new business activities and services into the Northern Marianas.

The workshop, Start Your Own Business, will cap the series of programs implemented by the Center in June, declared by Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio as the Commonwealth Small Business Development Month.

Mr. Sharer said the workshop will present SBDC services available to CNMI entrepreneurs specifically on business planning.
Participants will also get a good grasp of measures that can help them improve their chances for a successful business start-up.

More importantly, participants to the workshop will be presented with ideas on how to start a business and market it utilizing a tight budget.

“We always have solid participation and expect attendance to be strong again for the June 26 workshop. Moreover, we’re revamping and adding a follow-up program called Business for Success to assist entrepreneurs prepare a business plant that they can bank on,” Mr. Sharer said.

The NMC-SBDC workshop is in line with CDA’s efforts to minimize the granting of loan packages to credit applicants who submit proposals for laundromat, groceries, or mom and pop stores among other business ventures that are already crowding the local market.

CDA has indirectly and unofficially included creativity and innovativeness of the proposed business ventures in the list of criteria that are being looked at before credit applications are approved.

The move has been taken by the development authority to clear the way for new business ideas that are less service-oriented and that are not currently being provided and available in the Northern Marianas market.