Here’s a chance to gain insights on the workforce and learn skills to start a business.
The Hants Regional Development Authority is partnering with the Acadia Centre for Social and Business Entrepreneurship to offer a series of workshops on establishing and sustaining small businesses.
The first workshop will take place on March 18, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Hants RDA and anyone who wants to attend should call Chantelle Marshall at 1-877-284-2687 or email admin@hantscounty.com. Registration is $25 and lunch is included.
Hants RDA Executive Director Paul McGinn said the main purpose for this workshop is to encourage a strong entrepreneurial spirit in Hants County.
The focus of the workshop is for anyone thinking of starting a business, McGinn said. “We’ll go over the essentials of business planning and identifying customers.”
There are government programs and all kinds of other opportunities to get hold of a good amount of funding, which is needed to start a business, McGinn said. “You have to be able to finance a business idea, to help move a business idea into reality.”
The sad reality is most business don’t make millions in the first year and owners have to prove that a business can turn a profit and be sustainable, McGinn said. “No one is expecting you to make money the first year.”
“Building a business takes time,” McGinn said. “Yet if you prove your business can be viable then you’re on the right track.”
The second workshop is an eight-session training program that focuses on retention, retraining, recruitment and regulation to get the most out of employees.
These seminars will be held, at Kingsway Gardens in Windsor, on March 24-25, April 28-28, May 19-20 and June 16-17 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Check out acsbe.com to register or call 1-877-232-2723. The registration fee for this program is $250 + HST.
These workshops are geared more towards those who already own a small business; who want to look at improving the bottom line, McGinn said. “All businesses are lead by people … their employees are their greatest assets.”
“Employers are always at risk of losing employees to better jobs,” McGinn said. “You need to know how to bring in new people ... this way, you have got a better chance of being successful.”
The biggest mistake new business owners make is not researching the idea for a business completely, McGinn said. “We’re here to help, to provide information the business community is looking for.”
Most of Canada runs on small businesses and we are now starting to come out of the recession, McGinn said. “If the business community is going to be healthy it needs to grow.”쇓
