Small Business Seminars Now Offered Free to U of A Faculty, Staff and Students

Submitted photo

Attendees at an Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center seminar held at the University of Arkansas School of Law

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- The Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center at the University of Arkansas' Sam M. Walton College of Business is offering all its small business seminars free of charge to faculty, staff and students at the Fayetteville campus.

The revised fee policy applies to all the seminars the center offers throughout Washington, Benton, Carroll, Madison, Boone, Newton, Marion and Searcy counties in Northwest Arkansas.

There is now no limit to the number of seminars those affiliated with the U of A can attend in one calendar year. In the past, staff and faculty could attend one free seminar per calendar year and students paid half-price for any seminar. Martha Londagin, business consultant with the center, said a change in grant guidelines by the U.S. Small Business Administration enabled the center to offer seminars free to U of A faculty, staff and students.

The Northwest Arkansas center is located on the first floor of the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development on the Fayetteville campus. It regularly presents seminars targeted toward entrepreneurs and existing small business owners. Topics regularly include How to Start a Business in Arkansas, How to Write a Business Plan, Build a Free Website in a Day, Five Small Business Strategies for Social Media, Boosting Business with Online Reviews, Human Resources Updates for the Small Business Owner, How to Choose a Legal Entity, QuickBooks courses and Basic Exporting to Grow Small Business Sales.

The seminar calendar through April 2016 can be located at sbtdc.uark.edu, which includes event descriptions and registration information.

The center at the University of Arkansas has been serving the eight counties in Northwest Arkansas for more than 30 years. It is part of a national network of more than 1,000 small business development center offices that provide varied, low-cost training seminars, free market research, free business financing and loan process assistance, free creation of financial projections and free general business consulting services to existing and potential small business owners. The center in the Walton College operates as a regional office of the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center and is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration through a partnership with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the Walton College.

Any for-profit small business located or intending to locate in Northwest Arkansas may receive assistance from the center. Visit the Walton College center website at sbtdc.uark.edu or call the center at 479-575-5148 for more information.