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Grant allows county business consultant
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MONROE - Small business owners and potential entrepreneurs are getting an additional opportunity for one-on-one assistance to grow their businesses this year, thanks to a grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation with support from the William S. Knight Foundation.

The grant allows GCDC, working in partnership with the Small Business Development Center, to hire a part-time business consultant for 2018. Kristi Smith, a seasoned small-business person, will provide free, confidential business assistance. As a former business counselor and the owner of Rainbow Confections on the Square and Fudgeraiser.com, she'll share her expertise to help other entrepreneurs and business owners in Green County.

Examples of this support could include: assistance in finding new customers; help finding a suitable spot to start or expand a business; ideas to find and train qualified personnel; and guidance in financing options for a business start-up.

Smith joins Brock Waterman, SBDC's senior business consultant for Green County. Services that Smith and Waterman offer include help with planning, financing, sales/marketing, new products, new services, new markets, financial management and operations.

They help both small and emerging mid-size companies and help launch successful new enterprises.

Smith's position is made possible because of a $40,000 WEDC grant to allow GCDC to support entrepreneurial development. The William S. Knight Foundation, created by Knight Manufacturing founder Bill Knight, will provide the grant's required $20,000 cash match. GCDC's partner organizations and businesses will provide an additional $20,000 of in-kind value for the grant.

For more information, contact Kristi Smith at the GCDC office at 328-9452 or email gcdc@tds.net.