Workshop For Entrepreneurs And Small Business Owners

WATERBURY — “Financing Your Small Business: Turning Dreams Into Reality,” a free workshop for small business owners and entrepreneurs, will be held Tuesday, October 10, from 5 to 8 pm in Café West at Naugatuck Valley Community College.

Who should plan to attend? Entrepreneurs who are looking for the financing to start, sustain, or expand their business. Business owners concerned that their banker may be unable to provide the business with the credit that it requires.

A networking reception will begin at 5 pm. The workshop will run from 5:45 to 8 pm. Café West is located on the 5th floor at 750 Chase Parkway in Waterbury.

“We are pleased to partner with Naugatuck Valley Community College to reach out to small businesses and give them the necessary information and assistance to grow their businesses,” said John Lobon, Sr, vice president.

URBANK, a program cosponsored by the Connecticut Development Authority, encourages banks to provide loans to businesses that can’t quite meet standard bank lending criteria.

“Naugatuck Valley Community College has a history of providing support for small businesses that began more than 20 years ago with some of the first computer classes geared for the entrepreneur,” said Marie Peterson, venture training coordinator for NVCC’s Continuing Education Program. “We offer substantial opportunities for business training but gaining access to capital is one of the most important elements to getting a company off the ground. CDA and URBANK have established partnerships with colleges in the Hartford and New Haven areas to help people successfully start their own businesses and NVCC plans to meet a similar need here.”

Although the workshop is free, advance registration is required. Please call 860/282-4776 for tickets. Workshop leaders include Mr Lobon; Tony Roberto, CDA executive director; Ingrid McGowan, director of learning enterprises at NVCC; Ronald Williams, president of W&R, LLC; Vernon Austin, CEO and owner of VA Construction in Waterbury; Matt Smith, executive director of Quinnipiac University’s Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management Institute; and Jean Blake-Jackson, director of the Entrepreneurial Center at the University of Hartford.

URBANK is Connecticut’s urban lending initiative that encourages banks to provide loans to small and start-up businesses. URBANK’s goal is to make certain that smaller businesses get the financing they need to survive, grow, and prosper.