Supporting Entrepreneurs and Small Business Development Programs

As we draw this year to a close, I’ve been reflecting on the last ten.

One of the things I’ve enjoyed is working with ESOs and EDOs: Entrepreneurial Support Organizations and Economic Development Organizations.

I’ve been lucky to work with these amazing entrepreneurial and small business development support programs as a technical assistant — providing training, coaching, and mentoring. I’ve been fortunate to set up programs and deploy the teams to make those programs work in communities that are often under-served, under-represented, or under-resourced.

From Michigan to San Francisco, from Oman, Jordan, Belarus, and so many others countries, I’ve learned that individuals supporting small business owners and entrepreneurs also need a support system.

Most of the time I spend traveling is in supporting them — making sure they understand the difference between coaching and mentoring, advising, consulting, training, teaching, tutoring, or guiding. The terminology can be confusing for someone thrown into the rings without any prior training.

As we reflect on this year, you might want to think about what systems you have in place to make sure the staff is being supported as well, and are provided with the necessary tools to continue supporting them.

They might need additional training, train-the-trainers, new tools, methodologies, or out-of-the-box technology. We have deployed a 3-month coaching program in several countries, providing strategic methodology.

Another program offers business planning, with all the bells and whistles that allow people to create a business plan or growth plan with feedback along the way.

There are a lot of systems out there! So much information could be leveraged as long as we invest the time and money in the individuals that are supporting our community leaders, making an impact, providing jobs and generating tax dollars.

BEFORE YOU GO

We see our blogs as opportunities for dialogue. Please share your thoughts as comments.

1. What are you doing to support the support system that provides support to your community?

2. What tools have you used to support them?

3. What advice do you have for other ESOs or EDOs?