AERN home > News > Press release, September 13, 2007
Press Release
UA Contacts
Annette Watters, AERN co-director, 205-348-6191, awatters@cba.ua.edu
Paavo Hanninen, AERN co-director, 205-348-7011, phaninen@cba.ua.edu
AERN, The University of Alabama, Box 870221, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0221
Centreville Contact
Nancy Lightsey, director, Bibb County Chamber of Commerce, 205-926-9557, director@bibbchamber.org
September 13, 2007
Bibb County Joins AERN, Will Hold Open House Thursday, Sept. 20
TUSCALOOSA - The Bibb County Chamber of Commerce will welcome guests Thursday, Sept. 20, to celebrate the county's membership in the Alabama Entrepreneurial Research Network (AERN), a program of the University of Alabama's business school.
"We are excited that the services of AERN are now available in Bibb County," said Nancy Lightsey, director of the Bibb County Chamber of Commerce and AERN's Bibb County contact person. "And we want to share our excitement with the community by inviting residents to join us at the Chamber at 9:30 a.m. Thursday to learn more about the benefits of AERN."
Refreshments will be served, and visitors will be shown the AERN resources set up in the Chamber's conference room. "We have invited the mayors of Centreville, Brent, West Blocton and Woodstock, as well as the county commissioners and chamber directors and members," Lightsey said.
U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus and State Senator Bobby Singleton, whose districts include Bibb County, have also been invited, along with a number of University of Alabama faculty members and administrators.
"We expect AERN to play an integral role in Bibb County's economic future," Lightsey said in announcing the open house. "The resources are outstanding, and we are happy to serve as their home."
"We have much going for us in the county," she said, citing the promotion of tourism as an example of activity that benefits many small business owners.
AERN membership brings with it a loaded Dell computer, printer and related software along with key business reference books. Value of the equipment and other resources, if the local centers had to purchase them, would be about $7,500, said Paavo Hanninen, also an AERN co-director.
A major benefit, Hanninen said, is access to business startup and expansion information on the Web and to experts and training from University experts and through the Bruno Business Library.
Among the references available are Franchising 101, which is as an easy-to-use directory for the potential franchisee. From Kitchen to Marketplace describes how to transform your best food ideas and family recipes from "small potatoes" into a business that feeds thousands. How to Buy a Business is a step-by-step guide to the quickest way into the business world: buying an existing tried-and-true business.
Restaurant Start-up Guide and Complete Small Business Legal Guide are among the most popular references on the AERN bookshelf.
Another resource is the Alabama Virtual Library and Business Source Premier (BSP), both of which have been upgraded at http://www.avl.lib.al.us.
BSP includes industry reports and thousands of trade publications, for example, American Drycleaner.
"Have a business interest?" Hanninen asks. "If you do, you can find it through our online guide or in the AERN books."
"AERN welcomes Bibb County into the network," said Annette Watters, co-director of AERN, which is housed in the Center for Business and Economic Research, Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration, at the University. "We are excited about adding Bibb, which we believe is well positioned for increased small business development."
Lightsey has been working hard to spread the AERN word throughout the community. She has visited businesses throughout county, dropping off a brochure about AERN and an invitation to the open house.
With the addition of Bibb, there are now 13 counties in the network. The others are Choctaw, Dallas, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Macon, Marengo, Monroe, Perry, Pickens, Sumter and Wilcox counties.