The SBA’s Emerging Leaders Initiative recruited and graduated its first class of 15 small-business executives in 2019.
It was canceled in 2020 thanks to the pandemic, but now it’s back for 2021, though virtual this time. The U.S. Small Business Administration Lower Rio Grande Valley District Office is encouraging executives to sign up immediately for the Weslaco cohort of the free business education course, which starts April 20 and involves 13 online workshops and seven mentoring sessions over a period of months.
SBA Lower RGV District Director Angela Burton said there’s no cost for taking the course, which she said is time well spent because the training is specifically designed to stimulate and support business expansion. The curriculum offers strategies for gaining access to new sources of capital and new paths to business development, for instance, and allows participants to tap into a network of government resources and local business leaders “prepared to invest time and energy in your business,” Burton said.
The overall benefit of the executive education course helps businesses “move to the next level on their growth trajectory and emerge as self-sustaining businesses that create jobs and build communities,” she said. After the training, executives are expected to produce a three-year strategic growth plan with benchmarks and performance targets that will help them access the necessary support and resources to move forward, Burton said.
She noted that companies whose executives have taken part in the course experience double-digit annual revenue growth, with an average growth rate of 36 percent. Minority-owned alumni companies operating in low- to moderate-income communities see an average growth rate of 77 percent, Burton said.
Angela Wolf, president of Rental World, which has five locations around the Valley including Brownsville, is a 2019 graduate of Emerging Leaders and highly recommended the course during a March 2 webinar on the subject.
“Actually this course has helped me a lot, because I really didn’t know much about financial statements and balance sheets,” she said. “I have these numbers. What does it tell me? It’s been very, very beneficial for me.”
Wolf said she particularly enjoyed the CEO mentoring group component, noting that she’s still in touch with the group today.
“They don’t teach you this in college,” she said. “They don’t. I’m sorry. I have a marketing degree. You don’t learn about the nuts and bolts of running a business from college. This kind of program, it will show you that.”
Wolf recommended that anyone who signs up be sure and attend all the sessions, about 100 hours total, otherwise they’ll be doing themselves an injustice.
“You have to put the time in, but it’s worth it,” she said. “It really is.”
Burton said the course is for executives of existing businesses as opposed to startups, and not for people who are merely thinking about starting a business. Eligible businesses must have annual revenue of between $250,000 to $10 million, have been in operation at least three years and have at least one employee other than the owner, she said. There is no restriction on what types of businesses are eligible, Burton said.
Most of the classes will be held every other Tuesday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., she said.
“The only cost is your time and commitment to complete the curriculum over the course of seven months,” Burton said. “All other costs are covered by SBA and local partners.”
The Emerging Leaders application form can be found at interise.org/sbaemergingleaders/
For more information visit sba.gov/emergingleaders, call Angela Burton at (956) 793-0224 or email her at [email protected].
