All Entries in the "Small Business" Category

SBA Now Accepting Nominations for 2019 Small Business Awards

National Small Business Week will be observed from May 5 – 11, 2019

PROVIDENCE, RI – Nominations are now being accepted by the U.S. Small Business Administration for the 2019 Small Business Awards. National award categories include, the SBA’s flagship award – Small Business Person of the Year – as well as Small Business Exporter of the Year.

Local and Regional award nomination will be accepted in the following categories: Jeffrey Butland Family Owned Small Business, Minority Small Business Owner of the Year, Veteran Small Business Owner the Year, Woman Small Business Owner of the Year, Homebased Small Business Owner of the Year, Microenterprise of the Year, Young Entrepreneur, Small Business Manufacturer of the Year, and Financial Services Champion.

National winners will be honored during Small Business Week in Washington D.C., while local awardees will be honored at the Rhode Island “Salute to Small Business” Awards Luncheon. Nominations will be accepted until December 21, 2018 at 3:00pm EST.

Any individual or organization dedicated to the support of the small business community may submit nominations for these prestigious awards.

The Rhode Island Small Business Person of the Year will also have the opportunity to participate in the National Small Business Week activities and will compete for the National Small Business Person of the Year Award.

Award guidelines and nomination forms are available at www.SBA.gov/nsbw or by contacting Ryan Brissette at (401) 528-4630, Ryan.Brissette@SBA.gov.

About the U.S. Small Business Administration

The U.S. Small Business Administration makes the American dream of business ownership a reality. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start and grow their businesses. It delivers services to people through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.

RI Foundation launches new resource for startups and small businesses

RIBizBuilder.com will support the Foundation’s goal of strengthening the economy

PROVIDENCE, RI – Startups and small businesses looking to expand have a new resource. The Rhode Island Foundation today launched RIBizBuilder.com, an online directory to information about low- and no-cost help with borrowing, marketing to potential customers, local regulations and taxes, finding employees and more.

The website gives entrepreneurs access to information about dozens of Rhode Island-focused organizations offering services that help start and grow businesses in the Ocean State.

“Whether you are an established business, or a startup, or if you just have an idea, the point of RI BizBuilder is to quickly connect you with the people and entities that can help you with whatever you need, so you can move on, quickly,” said Jessica David, the Foundation’s executive vice president for strategy and community investments.

The directory was created by the Foundation in partnership with the Center for Women & Enterprise, Rhode Island Commerce Corporation, Rhode Island Small Business Development Center and many other partners with funding from the Foundation. The initiative supports the Foundation’s Economic Security strategic initiative.

“RI BizBuilder is easy to use; just answer four questions about the stage of your business, the type of assistance you’re looking for, your industry and whether you have any special circumstances. The site will find the most relevant information for you. You choose who you want to connect with, and RI BizBuilder will contact the provider on your behalf,” said David.

“Starting and running a business is no easy task. Small business owners are among the most resilient, hard-working, determined and creative people I know. But even they can’t do it alone all the time. And finding time to find the assistance and information that can help – about capital, marketing, regulations, talent, and more – has not been as easy as it should be,” said David.

The site contains more than 100 listings of resources and services that are available for startups and small businesses in Rhode Island. Visitors can narrow their search using a variety of filters including the type of assistance they are looking for, their industry and special factors such gender or military veteran status.

“RI BizBuilder is designed to help entrepreneurs navigate the landscape of business supports in the state. This is a resource to find low-and no-cost support services in Rhode Island. We are excited for you to try it out, and to send us feedback,” said Carmen Diaz-Jusino, the Foundation’s strategic program officer for economic security.

RIBizBuilder.com was launched at a gathering of business leaders in Central Falls, Central Falls Mayor James Diossa led the RI BizBuilder partners and representatives of other business services organizations on a tour of small businesses in the Dexter Street commercial district.

“Central Falls has businesses that are both expanding and starting up,” said Mayor Diossa. “It is essential now more than ever that they have one central location where they can obtain all of the information and support that businesses in the past had not been privy to. The launching of this site has just made Rhode Island more business friendly.”

Alba Lucia Rios, owner of Tienda Alinary in Central Falls, was impressed after she saw a demonstration of the website.

“This is a great resource because in Rhode Island there are a lot of resources for small businesses. Many of the organizations included in the directory helped me when I needed it the most,” she said.

The Foundation plans a series of main street strolls and informational sessions across Rhode Island to introduce business owners and entrepreneurs to ribizbuilder.com face-to-face. Events are being planned for Cranston, Pawtucket, Providence, Warren and Woonsocket.

The Rhode Island Foundation is the largest and most comprehensive funder of nonprofit organizations in Rhode Island. Working with generous and visionary donors, the Foundation raised $38 million and awarded $43 million in grants to organizations addressing the state’s most pressing issues and needs of diverse communities in 2017.Through leadership, fundraising and grant making activities, often in partnership with individuals and organizations, the Foundation is helping Rhode Island reach its true potential. For more information, visit rifoundation.org.

The SBA Celebrates Warwick Ice Cream on National Chocolate Ice Cream Day

“From Cow to Cone”

WARWICK, RI – June 7, 2018, is recognized as National Chocolate Ice Cream Day, and in keeping with the observation the U.S. Small Business Administration highlighted local small business, Warwick Ice Cream. Founded in 1930 by Charlie Bucci, Warwick Ice Cream has been family-owned and operated for 88 years, consistently focusing on locally sourced ingredients and quality product.

Warwick Ice Cream has a long relationship with the U.S. Small Business Administration including the use of SBA loan programs for both growth and disaster recovery, participation in technical assistance through programs such as the Emerging Leaders initiative, as well as being named the 2010 Jeffrey Butland Family-Owned Small Business of the Year.

Today, the fourth generation of the Bucci family is leading the way. Thomas Bucci Jr, a recent graduate of the SBA’s Emerging Leaders program, is dedicated to ensuring that Warwick Ice Cream continues to grow but not at the expense of quality, “We source each individual ingredient; our cream comes from local farms here in New England so the dairy for what we are producing next week is still on the farm right now,” said Thomas Bucci Jr. “That process is so close to our facility that it really is from cow to cone,” he added.

The Bucci’s understand that small business cannot necessarily compete with big business prices and have adjusted accordingly, “People think ice cream is ice cream but there are so many different qualities of it,” said Bucci. “Our family’s philosophy is to make the best ice cream, using fresh local ingredients and charge what we have to charge. Bigger companies make their ice cream on a price point where you can get a product for $1.99 but you look at the ingredients statement and you can’t even pronounce the words that are in it,” he affirmed.

For more information on the SBA programs please contact @Ryan.Brissette@sba.gov, or (401) 528-4630.

Tech Collective Announces New Mission, Initiatives, and Website

Providence, R.I. – May 29, 2018 – Tech Collective, Rhode Island’s premier technology hub, announced its new mission, cornerstone initiatives, and website. Tech Collective worked directly with its members in the technology community to address their greatest business challenges and opportunities. This information guided the organization’s updated mission: To facilitate the growth of innovation and economic development in a socially responsible way, as well as ensuring that Rhode Island companies have the talent and resources they need to compete and grow.

“We believe our mission and our strategic initiatives will provide Rhode Island’s technology driven companies with high impact skill development and convening opportunities to enrich their workforce, increase innovative products and services, and grow the Rhode Island economy,” said John Smithers, CEO of Tech Collective.

Each of the strategic initiatives provides a forum for people, programs, and ideas, to connect and grow. Each initiative is led by an advisory committee comprised of technology industry professionals from across the sector. Activities are currently facilitated around the following initiative areas:

• Technology Innovation
• Professional Development
• Women in Tech (WIT)
• K-12 STEM

The official launch follows Tech Collective’s work in recent months to fulfill the business community’s desire to connect across disciplines such as the CIO Forum, an event where CIOs met to expand their network and advance information technology thinking within the state. Other recent activities include the NIST Cybersecurity Training, the Women in Tech: 4 Steps to Workplace Empowerment event, the DELTA (Developing Emerging Leaders in Tech to Advance) Leaders Series, the Data & Analytics Summit, and the upcoming Customer Service training.

An outgrowth of these community discussions, was the creation of the Agile RI Group, developed to provide Agile users with the opportunity to discuss practical applications of this method and to give and receive coaching.

The new Tech Collective website can be accessed at www.tech-collective.org. The website provides users with a catalog of information about Tech Collective’s initiatives and learning opportunities as well as technology-pertinent information and resources across state industry, government and academic sectors.

The website was created by Indigo Design Studio. For more information on Indigo’s services, go to: http://indigostudios.com/

About Tech Collective:
As the technology hub of Rhode Island, Tech Collective partners with companies, nonprofits, entrepreneurs, government, academia, and the technology workforce. Tech Collective strives to encourage and develop diverse populations to enrich the technology community. Membership is open to all who are passionate about the growth of technology innovation and opportunity for all in Rhode Island. Since its transition from the Rhode Island Technology Council (RITEC) in 2004, Tech Collective has received more than $12M in federal, state, and private grant funding to foster industry collaboration, awareness and development. Awards and funding include Governor’s Workforce Board RI Industry Partnerships, Real Jobs RI, Ready to Work/ Tech Force RI, and national recognition with the state of Rhode Island from President Obama’s TechHire initiative. For more information about Tech Collective, please visit www.tech-collective.org.