ORANGE : Plans Laid to Help Small Businesses
A task force of the city’s Chamber of Commerce has recommended several programs it hopes will help small business flourish in the city.
Chamber officials said the new programs will redefine the chamber’s role in the small business community and should help change how the community views the organization.
“Small businesses have in the past seen chamber membership as a measure of their success, a milestone to reach,” Brent Hunter, chamber executive director said. “What we’re trying to do is to get them to think of the chamber as a vehicle for that success.”
As a first step, the chamber board has appointed a permanent committee to address the needs of the small business community.
Other recommendations adopted by the chamber board of directors should be implemented within the next six months, Hunter said.
The recommendations include:
- Recruitment of a professional business adviser from the Santa Ana-based Small Business Development Center and community business experts who will offer free counseling services and advice to small business owners. A representative of the SBDC will be on hand at the Orange chamber office for weekly consultation. Community experts also will meet individually with owners to brainstorm on subjects such as marketing, operations and professional services.
* Co-sponsoring educational seminars and workshops with the SBDC on such topics as business operations and how to integrate new technology.
* Hosting a series of informal “brown bag” breakfasts and lunches held by different business leaders that would enable business owners to swap information and ideas.
* Establishing a library, resource and referral center that will include print, video and computerized database information to provide reference materials for businesses.
* Devoting one to two pages of the monthly Orange Business Report to small business events and news.
The resource center and counseling session with the SBDC representative will be available to the general business community. Other activities will be offered to chamber members only.
