Coalition continues working toward entrepreneurial conference

Members of the Saline County Entrepreneur-ship Coalition met again last week to discuss the upcoming Mind Your Own Business conference which will be held on March 5 at Missouri Valley College, along with a regionwide conference that will reach out to businesspeople from a six- or seven-county area.

The coalition discussed postponing its first annual regional business conference in an effort to gather more information to ensure that the conference is highly successful.

Roy Hunter, Marshall-Saline Development Corporation executive director, was one of several coalition members who voiced concerns at the meeting about the success of the regional conference.

"I have two concerns," Hunter said. "One, that we can do it, and, two, that we can do it right. If we can do it right in five or six months, then I'm willing to put the effort in to do it right. If we can't do it right, then I'd rather wait."

Hunter went on to say that since this is what the coalition hopes will be the first of many conferences focused toward entrepreneurs and small businesses, the coalition members want to solidify its success.

"We want this to be an annual event which is why we want the first one to be successful -- because you build off of your base," Hunter said. "This will be the first one in this area. They've been successful in other regions of the state and we think we're a good location to have one here. We'll reach out to a six- or seven-county area and give those people an opportunity to learn how to run their businesses better."

No decision was made about the regional conference at the meeting.

The coalition also discussed the Mind Your Own Business conference which is now less than a month away and will be held at Missouri Valley College.

Keith Ward, client services coordinator for Missouri Valley Community Action Agency and architect of the coalition, said coalition members learned a lot from the previous forum which was held in September of last year.

"The '04 forum was held in the middle of the week and a lot of people were saying that it should have been held at a time that was more accessible for people that are working and actually looking to get into entrepreneurship. So we've changed some things this time to make it a little bit better," Ward said. "We've added some new sessions and improved on a few of the older sessions. We'll have one more session before the actual event to tie up loose ends and see if there are any last-minute details that need to be taken care of."

Hunter is also excited about the entrepreneurship forum, which was created to assist would-be business owners and help them utilize existing resources to the fullest extent.

"It's going great and we're hoping to double our participation from the last one, which was about 50," Hunter said. "I think this is going to be a good forum. We have excellent presentations. We just want to make sure that anyone that's interested in starting a business or has recently started a business and is maybe having some difficulties [is aware of the event]. We're going to supply them with resources and knowledge and an opportunity to learn."

Ward has been delivering flyers first-hand in locations throughout the county in an effort to increase attendance.

"As far as the forum goes, I'm feeling pretty confident," Ward said. "I know a lot of people that are interested."

Contact Eric Coley at

marshallfaith@socket.net