If you’ve ever dreamed of starting your own business, you might want to consider the possibilities of successfully growing your idea and business right in Tennessee.
Fayette County resident Mary Williamson did, creating a home and office cleaning business. But before Williamson’s entrepreneurial dreams became a reality, she called on the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development’s (ECD) Business Enterprise Resource Office, or BERO, to help her establish the business. The assistance Williamson received from BERO helped her become eligible to compete in contract procurement processes, and as a result, to secure her three cleaning contracts.
“BERO helped me sift through the red tape of starting a new business, providing guidance on completing tax paperwork, obtaining a business banking account and applying for certification as a women/minority-owned business,” said Williamson, owner of Mary’s Home and Office Detailing in Oakland.
“Small businesses pay 45 percent of total U.S. private payroll and keep the ‘American Dream’ within reach for thousands of Americans,” said ECD Commissioner Matt Kisber. “Starting a business takes hard work, dedication, money, time and a viable business plan. Tennesseans should consider pursuing their business ideas and taking advantage of BERO’s services.”
Since 2004, BERO has served more than 700 businesses by offering a wide range of technical, financial and management assistance needs. The program has four main objectives: to serve as an information resource regarding private industry and government entities procurement and business opportunities; to connect private industry, government entities and small, minority and women-owned businesses in order to create partnerships; to provide bid information regarding opportunities available with private industry and government; and to link private industry and government entities looking to purchase goods and/or services.
According to West Tennessee BERO Specialist Sharon Taylor McKinney, the key component of BERO’s services is listening to business owners to find out their needs.
“BERO offers several services to prospective and existing business owners. In the area of technical assistance, BERO can provide guidance and/or resource referrals for entities seeking to develop a strategic business plan, looking to grow new or expanded market niches or just to better analyze the competition, just to name a few of the things we do at BERO,” said McKinney. “We meet with business owners to help them identify and connect to opportunities that will help grow and sustain their businesses, whether the opportunity is to obtain a diversity enterprise certification to do business with the State of Tennessee, apply for a loan to shore up working capital or to identify ways to increase revenues.”
Elbert Mosby, President and CEO of Streamline Direct, an established marketing distribution company located in Southeast Memphis, utilized BERO to help turn his business around from being in the red to a profit center. BERO was instrumental in helping connect Mosby to lending sources that could provide access to capital. Today, the company has gone from a net loss over the last three years to a net profit.
“My background was in production, so I had a lot to learn when I moved to the administration arm of the company,” said Mosby. “There were a few occasions when I was ready to throw in the towel, but Sharon Taylor McKinney encouraged me to hang in there and provided me with ideas to increase profits.”
BERO works in close partnership with the Governor’s Office of Diversity Business Enterprise (GoDBE) in its mission to expand procurement opportunities for small, minority and women-owned businesses that wish to do business with the State of Tennessee. BERO has a staff of six with its main office located in Nashville and regional offices in Memphis and Knoxville. For more information about BERO, visit www.state.tn.us/ecd/bizserv_minority.htm.

… read the rest of the story by Subscribing now.

... read the rest of the story by Subscribing now.