| The Beloved Community's Business Development Program is designed to provide free business education, counselling, and networking opportunities to small business owners and prospective entrepreneurs.
View our current Business Development Brochure.
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"Our approach is designed to fully service the needs of small business owners, managers, and prospective entrepreneurs".
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| The Beloved Community counsels and trains business owners and prospective entrepreneurs from throughout our community and The City of Chicago. The Beloved Community offers entrepreneurship training classes for local residents at our Business Resource Center. Our coursework focuses on building business development skills for all levels of participants: those who have little or no prior knowledge and those who are ready to complete the components of a plan for a realistic opportunity. In addition, The Beloved Community hosts Business Networking Events throughout the year, bringing together entrepreneurs from the community to share resources and ideas.
The Beloved Community’s Business Development Programs foster an atmosphere of entrepreneurship by assisting potential and current business owners in the development of strong business skills. These programs help new businesses successfully launch, while improving the position of existing enterprises and increasing their market share.
Through the provision of technical business assistance and ongoing education, participating business owners learn how to translate business plans into successful businesses.
Our business development programs are comprised of 3 main components:
Counseling
Education
Professional Networking
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| While no success is guaranteed, we believe that if entrepreneurs give serious thought to the previous questions, they are in the best position to succeed.
In today's economy, African American small businesses are facing new and more difficult challenges than ever before. The declining national economy, combined with the competitive advantage of "big box" retail stores and the globalization of manufacturing has created an environment that requires entrepreneurs to adapt to survive. For business owners to succeed under these circumstances they must be more knowledgeable and well-prepared to enter their respective markets than ever before.
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The Beloved Community partners with the University of Illinois Extension School to offer coursework in entrepreneurship for all skill levels free of charge. Classes are taught by a highly-regarded small business instructor of many years, Dr. Zira Smith. These 8-week courses offer instruction in a range of topics including:
Pre- Start Analysis
Global Trends
Business Fundamentals
Incorporation
Sales and Marketing
Competition Analysis
"Pitching" Business Ideas to Investors
Reading and Preparing Income Statements
Excecution and Exit Strategies
Click here to view pictures from our Winter Graduation.
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| Dr. Zira Smith teaching an Entrepreneurship Class at The Beloved Community's Business Resource Center. |
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| The Beloved Community co-sponsors Business Networking Events in the community. This provides an opportunity for entrepreneurs to network with other business minded people. Check this site frequently for upcoming Business Networking Events.
As a follow-up to events like these, our trained and skilled business counselors offer one-on-one assistance in a variety of areas to help entrepreneurs take their business concepts to the next level at no cost.
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| The Beloved Community’s Business Resource Center is stocked with an abundant library of research material, including: business and finance books, trade journals, and periodicals related to a broad range of industries. A conference room and computer center with newly updated versions of business plan writing software are additional features of the Center. Prospective entrepreneurs from throughout our community come to the Business Resource Center for a place to think, learn and explore their business concepts in great depth.
Some of the features of our business library include:
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