SBA’s Wisconsin District Office is seeking fifteen urban businesses to participate in its high-intensity business development course, the Emerging Leaders Initiative. Now in its eighth year, the Emerging Leaders experience helps owners of existing urban small businesses with high growth potential to build sustainable, flourishing companies.
2014 graduate Charles Carter recently spoke to the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service about his Emerging Leaders experience: “If they ever come up with a part two, sign me up because it helped me and my business tremendously.” And classmate Magic Maintenance founder and owner Guillermo Montoto Garza agreed. “Being able to share ideas … and learn about marketing, financials and human resources were all valuable,” You can read the full article here.
This seven-month-long intensive, which is free for participants, totals 100 hours of classroom time, networking, and mentoring. The Milwaukee instructor for Emerging Leaders also directs the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Lubar Executive MBA program. Interise, a Boston-based business and management training company, developed the curriculum, which is based on their “streetwise MBA.”
More than two-thirds of past participants nationally have reported seeing their companies’ revenues rise, and three-quarters have said their companies have maintained or created new jobs. More than 60 Milwaukee small businesses have participated since the program started.
Eligible businesses should:
* Be located in the City of Milwaukee and/or meet SBA’s criteria for small disadvantaged businesses.
* Be at least three years old.
* Have at least one employee besides the owner.
* Have gross annual sales of at least $400,000.
* The application deadline is March 6; the course begins in April.
To learn more about Emerging Leaders in Milwaukee, contact Mary Trimmier at 414-297-1093 or visit http://www.sba.gov/emergingleaders. To apply, go to http://www.interise.org/SBAEmergingLeaders.
