Business Boot Camp to Groom Entrepreneurs

A four-week course designed to instruct new entrepreneurs about doing business in Farmville is being offered on Wednesday nights beginning October 2, 2013.

Co-sponsored by Longwood Small Business Development Center (LSBDC), Farmville Downtown Partnership, the Farmville Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Town of Farmville, BBC: Business Boot Camp will be presented from 5:30 – 9 pm at the South Street Conference Center in Farmville Downtown. Tuition for the four-week program is $40 per participant and includes all program materials.

“All of the sponsors have had people who want to open a business come into our offices,” explained Town of Farmville Planner Cindy Morris. “Many of them have an idea, but they are often at varying stages of development. We work with them to give them the information, but decided there had to be a better, more efficient way to help new businesses get started.”

According to Linda Yoder, Economic Restructuring Committee chair for Farmville Downtown Partnership, the idea for the BBC: Business Boot Camp came from a similar program implemented last year in the southwest Virginia town of Marion. Town Council members David Whitus and Sally Thompson had both encouraged Morris, the Chamber, and Farmville Downtown Partnership to develop a one-stop business builder document that would streamline the process of planting a new business.

“Marion introduced ‘Pop-Up Marion’ last year,” Yoder explained. “From the program, several new businesses have been planted in their community. Our Economic Restructuring Committee began working in earnest on a Farmville Downtown version during a planning retreat in June and it is becoming a reality next week.”

BBC: Business Boot Camp is the first of a three-phase program that will instruct, encourage, and test new entrepreneurs wanting to open their businesses in Farmville Downtown. Over the four-week BBC schedule, participants will learn about everything from basic business structures and accounting methods to writing a business plan and finding the funds to finance their dreams. Professional panels composed of local accountants, attorneys, bankers, and insurance agents will offer information and suggestions on opening a business, ensuring you have adequate financing, the proper bookkeeping method for your business, and how to work with the banks. Participants will be treated to suppertime samplers from local restaurants with owners available to answer questions about the food service industry.

Following graduation from BBC, participants will be encouraged to submit their business plans to a Business Plan Review Board consisting of local bankers, attorneys, accountants, and business professionals. The plans will be reviewed by the panelists who will offer suggestions and guidance to assist with development of a solid plan that will bring them closer to planting a successful venture.

Business plans determined to be ready for implementation will be given the opportunity to compete in next spring’s Pop-Up Downtown Farmville program. Owners of available storefronts in Farmville Downtown will work with the sponsors to provide a space for the temporary businesses to operate during April, May and June of 2014. Criteria for inclusion in the Pop-Up Farmville Downtown program will be the desire to permanently plant a new business in Farmville Downtown’s designated Main Street District. The Review Board and popular vote will determine the winner of the Pop-Up Farmville Downtown competition at the end of June, 2014. The winner will receive a start-up grant from Farmville Downtown Partnership to assist with getting the new business started in the Main Street District.

“We are really excited to be involved with this program,” said Rucker Snead, Chairman of the Board of Farmville Area Chamber of Commerce. “The one-stop business document was something we’ve needed for a long time. I really believe the Business Boot Camp will be a great step in the right direction for our community’s business development.”

For more information or to register for Business Boot Camp, please contact the Farmville Downtown Partnership office at 434-392-3060 or e-mail director@downtownfarmville.com. Registration forms are available at the Virginia’s Heartland Regional Visitor Center, 121 E. Third Street, Farmville Downtown, or online at www.facebook.com/DowntownFarmville .