Where Ideas Learn to Profit

Demand for small business support outstrips supply in Alabama, making these three business centers vital assets in Alabama job creation.

In starting a ValPak franchise, Elizabeth Houssain turned to the Women's Business Center of North Alabama for help.

Photos by Steve Gates

• The Women’s Business Center of North Alabama and Central Alabama Women’s Business Center takes clients through every step of the process, from business plans to emotional support.

• The Alabama Minority Business Opportunity Center is a statewide business-development specialist connecting small business to big contracts.

Producing a new product that will be in high demand. Providing a service that no one else is offering. Taking a hobby and turning it into a profitable business.
Nearly everyone has an idea for a business. But most people have no idea what it takes to transform those dreams into reality.

Women and minority-owned businesses in Alabama have several resources to turn to for help in both starting and growing a company. These organizations offer all levels of assistance to small businesses, from basic startup paperwork to traversing the complex maze for obtaining government jobs.

“There’s so much to know and so much to do that people sometimes just get overwhelmed,” says Joanne Randolph, president and CEO of the Women’s Business Center of North Alabama. “A lot of people say they want to (run their own business), but they have no idea what’s involved.”

Randolph says the WBCNA originated after a woman-owned business in Huntsville began seeking federal-contracting work and had a difficult time making any progress.

“She received no support from home or the business community,” Randolph says. “She had a vision of a place where women could go to get help and assistance and support when they wanted to start and operate a business.”

After three years of planning, the WBCNA became incorporated as a non-profit organization in 2003. It didn’t take long for officials to realize there was a need in the business world that simply was not being met.

“We found that the demand for these services was definitely there. In fact, the demand quickly outpaced the volunteers’ time,” Randolph says. “One of the things we struggled with was how to meet the demand. It was taking people a month to get an appointment with us.”

The demand is generated by the lack of knowledge most people have of the business world if they have never run a company. Randolph says the WBCNA takes people through every step of the process, beginning with the feasibility of the suggested business.

“Part of our job is educating people,” Randolph says. “We’re successful if we’re able to enlighten someone about all the issues before they go into business, spend their life savings and get into debt.”

Once a basic business plan is established, the WBCNA helps the owner generate a specific set of goals and a timeline to meet them.

“We assess where they’ve been, where they’re going, what they’re trying to accomplish and what’s their dream,” Randolph says. “We show them the road to take, then it’s up to them to drive the car.”

Sometimes those basic directions are all a new business owner needs. That type of guidance is what helped Elizabeth Houssain begin a ValPak of North Alabama franchise last summer.

“When I first sat down with Joanne, she assessed my strength and weaknesses and noticed that I didn’t have specific sales goals,” Houssain says. “She honed in on that immediately. She helped me develop five very timely, very specific goals.

“After those timelines, we met again, so there is huge accountability. It was so helpful in motivating me. She really helped me organize my goals and get started.”

The Alabama Minority Business Opportunity Center offers similar services, but on a somewhat larger scale. The organization began in 2006 and, with the help of a grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce, assists minority-owned businesses, especially when it comes to working with state and federal agencies. It is headquartered in Birmingham, but its mission and service area is statewide.

“We try to stay involved with the different government entities,” MBOC Project Director Lance Mitchell says. “We sign up for all these bid lists as if we’re a vendor: the city of Birmingham, city of Huntsville, UAB. That keeps us in the loop with some of the larger state organizations, and then we funnel it out.”

While MBOC will work with businesses of any size, Mitchell says the organization focuses on larger companies because those companies are more likely to hire employees.

“One of our big things is job creation,” Mitchell says. “So we’re dealing with automotive suppliers, IT firms, staffing firms. We’re more interested in a metal shop over a barbershop.

“We do recommendation letters, bid prep, help with financing, referrals. It’s one big network here. We’re a business-development specialist. It’s almost like an extra hand for you.”

Jane Smith took advantage of that helping hand five years ago. Smith, an Asian-American who owns the Birmingham-based marketing firm RSI Recruit Source, was informed by MBOC that the state of Alabama was seeking help in human-resource management for an extensive project that involved replacing and re-programming election software in all 67 counties.

“MBOC can help the major corporations and the governmental organizations find companies like us,” says Smith, whose business had been in existence for five years before the association with MBOC. “Just making us aware of the opportunity in a timely manner was a great help.

“Then they helped us develop a proposal, they assisted us with contracts. We had to have strategic partners to reach some of the smaller counties. They pretty much were a business development partner for us. When you’re a small business with limited internal resources, that is a huge help.”

Once she received the job, Smith says she eventually hired six “high-end technology guys” from within the state for yearlong contracts to work on the projects.

“At the end of the day, they’re looking at how many jobs you can create, not how much money you can make,” Smith says. “Small businesses tend to hire local people.”

That is one of the reasons the Small Business Administration is active in helping with the creation and development of new companies. Through an SBA grant, the Central Alabama Women’s Business Center assists women-owned companies in Jefferson County and six surrounding counties.

“Our goal is to be there for women, to help them get into business and then sustain and grow their business,” CAWBC Board President Jennifer Tsantes says. “Step one is just evaluating whether they really are ready to start a business. Step two is giving them a guidance plan to get there —help with accounting, legal, organizational people. We have career coaches. We even have people who will help you set up an office.”

In addition to the all the practical steps that must be taken to start a business, Tsantes says the CAWBC also provides emotional support for those times when the new venture feels overwhelming to the fledgling owner.

“We have people who you can lean on to help you get through the difficult times in owning a business and being an entrepreneur,” Tsantes says. “It’s important to have that team effort around you when you start a business. Just knowing that there are other people out there like you and you’re not alone.

“A lot of our clients come back and serve as trainers, coaches and mentors for other people. It’s a big family-type of feeling, which you need when you’re going through something as serious as owning a business.”

Cary Estes is a freelance contributor to Business Alabama. He lives in Birmingham.