PACOIMA : Small Businesses Get Free Advice

If Didi Barney had to depend on her pocketbook, she could pay for about two hours of a consultant’s time to advise her on expanding her four-employee business.

Thanks to a new venture launched Thursday by Los Angeles for small business owners in Pacoima, Barney, director of H.O.P.E. America, can get 50 hours of advice for free. H.O.P.E. America assists first-time home buyers with lenders.

Barney is one of 1,200 business owners who can tap consultants for hands-on assistance ranging from drafting a business plan to applying for a loan through the Pacoima Business Assistance Center.

“I’m definitely going to take advantage of their consultants,” said Barney, who wants to start a center in Pacoima to process mortgage loans. “Most small businesses never get the opportunity to work with the caliber of the people they want.”

During the center’s grand opening in the Pacoima Community Center, city officials said the facility could create new jobs for residents by helping existing businesses expand and helping entrepreneurs start new ones. Center officials will target 1,200 businesses in the Pacoima Enterprise Zone, which offers tax breaks and low-interest loans to business investors.

Parker Anderson, general manager of the Los Angeles Community Development Department, said 80% of the small businesses that apply for city loans are able to accomplish their goals without additional borrowing.

“They either need to change their whole business plan or rethink their financing,” said Anderson, whose department will fund the center’s $179,000 annual cost of operation.

This is where the center’s consultants can step in. They will advise business owners on the nuts and bolts of inventory control, marketing and financial statements, said Jonathan Goldhill, the center’s program manager. “When businesses have access to resources, they can grow and create jobs.”

The center, operated by the Van Nuys-based Valley Economic Development Center under a city contract, will also offer workshops and training for entrepreneurs.