Small business owners in the Golden Triangle have the opportunity to learn how to grow their business while working with fellow business owners from around the country.
The Goldman Sachs Foundation is expanding its 10,000 Small Businesses initiative to offer free education classes to eligible owners in Mississippi.
Karen Stanley, owner of Neon Frog marketing agency, has been participating in the program with a cohort of business owners in Alabama, where the program expanded earlier this year.
“I can already see the changes that are happening with me and my mindset,” Stanley told The Dispatch. “It is not a group that gets together and whines about how hard it is to run a business. … It is much more of a positive experience where we’re all just trying to better ourselves.”
The program expansion is part of a $100 million investment by Goldman Sachs that aims to support job creation and economic growth in rural areas by providing participants with the education needed to address common challenges business owners in those areas face.
“Small businesses are engines of economic growth in our country and that’s especially true in our rural communities,” Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO David Solomon said in a press release. “I’m excited to expand our 10,000 Small Businesses program to provide more entrepreneurs with the training, tools and access to capital they need to create more jobs and drive our economy forward.”
A recent survey released by Goldman Sachs found 86% of business owners in rural communities have plans to grow their businesses, but only 7% believe they are receiving sufficient resources to support growth. Likewise, small business owners in rural areas are 21% more likely to have a hard time attracting employees than their urban counterparts.
The 10,000 Small Business program intends to be a solution to those problems. Small business owners accepted to the program will spend 12 weeks learning, networking and receiving mentorship.
Stanley said the networking aspect has so far been one of the most influential parts of her experience in the program. It can be difficult for small business owners in rural areas to reach out to their local counterparts for advice, especially in a competitive market, she said.
“This has given me an entire network of business owners that I know are going through the same struggles I am when I’m going through them and are great at being supportive as we try to learn to do our jobs better as business owners,” Stanley said.
The curriculum focuses on practical business skills, marketing and employee management. Through a combination of online and in-person classes, participants will cover topics ranging from business and management education and leadership to access to financial capital and networking.
Those lessons are taught from the owner’s perspective, Stanley said.
“It’s actually using your business, your financials (and) your goals,” she said. “It’s teaching you a lot about how to work better on your business versus in your business.”
Launched in North Dakota in 2023, the fast-expanding program has a track record of working with rural small business owners, reporting that 74% of the businesses have grown revenues and 72% have expanded their workforce since graduating from the program.
Business owners selected to participate aren’t on the hook for covering the cost. The Goldman Sachs Foundation provides each participant with a full scholarship.
“There’s really no good reason not to do it other than if you don’t have the time to commit to it,” Stanley said.
The Greater Starkville Development Partnership will host a virtual learning session at noon Wednesday for eligible business owners interested in applying. Hunter Harrington, GSDP director of membership development, encouraged local owners to take advantage of the opportunity.
“I think it is a unique opportunity for our local business community to be able to cast their net a little wider as far as resources go, networking opportunities (and) education material,” she said. “(It’s) just a wealth of information and programming and tools for small businesses.”
To be eligible for the program, applicants must be an owner or a co-owner of a business that has been operating for two or more years, has two or more employees, including the owner, and more than $75,000 in annual business revenues.
The application window is currently open and will close Nov. 10. Classes will begin in February.
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 47 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
