AERN home > News > Press release, September 26, 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 26, 2007
Bibb County Celebrates AERN Membership with Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
The Alabama Entrepreneurial Research Network added a new chapter on September 20 as Bibb County joined the network in a ribbon-cutting and open-house ceremony attended by about 25 local business, government and University leaders.
The addition of Bibb County brings the total number of AERN partners to 13 counties spread out across West Alabama.
AERN officials say Bibb's joining the network is part of its mission to ensure that rural areas have the same resources available to them that business in bigger cities would have.
"AERN is entirely a rural Alabama project," said Annette Watters, co-director of AERN, who cut the ribbon officially opening the Bibb County facility at the Chamber of Commerce office, 835 Walnut Street in Centreville.
The AERN program in Bibb County is funded by a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission, which also has sponsored a number of new centers in several other counties in the network.
AERN members are provided with resources that include a desktop computer, software, books and access to experts at the University of Alabama. The total value of the equipment and resources is estimated to be $7,500, according to Paavo Hanninen, also a co-director of AERN.
Another benefit, according to Hanninen, is the ability for people to access information about business startups and expansions on the Web and be able to use the Bruno Business Library located on the University of Alabama's campus.
"I hope it will help people who have a dream to start a business," said Mayor Dennis Stripling of Brent, one of the many dignitaries on hand for the ceremony.
The location in Centreville will provide services for all of Bibb County, said Nancy Lightsey, Bibb County chamber executive director. "We expect AERN to play an integral role in Bibb County's economic future," Lightsey said.
Wardell Harris, co-owner of Wing Castle restaurant in Centreville, said future business owners in the area have a great resource at their fingertips and that he wished they had been available to him he was planning his business about a year ago.
He has already spent some time reading the AERN reference books and says he is planning buy copies of some of them. He said he also hopes to use the resources to help him and his partners, Terry Bell and Tracy Norris, expand their business to another location.
Among the books that are available at the Centreville location are: Franchising 101, which is a directory for someone looking to open a franchise, From Kitchen to Marketplace, which describes how to transform your best food ideas and family recipes into a business, How to Buy a Business, Restaurant Start-up Guide, and the Complete Small Business Legal Guide. Harris would like to see AERN expand its resource book collection to include books to include more about using the Internet as a business tool.
AERN also provides access to the Alabama Virtual Library and Business Source Premier, a database of thousands of trade publications.
Business Plan Pro 2007, a popular software program that walks a new business owner through the business planning process is part of the AERN package. "This program helps the future business owner produce a business plan in a form and at a level of sophistication that banks expect with a loan application," Hanninen said. "The program makes the process much easier."
"We're in an economic development mode in Bibb County," said County Commissioner Al Green, "and what better way to stimulate it than by growing your own business."
Matt Hartzell, who is the Bibb County Extension Coordinator, is originally from Demopolis where AERN has a chapter already in place. Hartzell says he is confident that the project will be a success after seeing what it has done in Marengo County and after seeing the turnout for the grand opening ceremony in Centreville.
Over the past 12 months AERN has helped rural communities add an estimated 124 jobs and has saved 18 additional jobs from being terminated, according to Watters. She also said that this was a conservative estimate because all of the counties had not reported in. Watters is very excited about the success AERN has had over the past 12 months.
"Our goal is to have a more prosperous rural Alabama," Watters said "Rural does not have to equal poor."
In a speech during the reception Hanninen said that he hoped anybody could walk into the center and start a business by using the resources available to them. The services provided by AERN are free for anyone in the county to come and use.
Following Hanninen's talk, the crowd of about 25 people walked outside for the ribbon-cutting ceremony on the front lawn. Watters had the honors of cutting the yellow ribbon, surrounded by members of the county commission, Centreville Mayor Dalton Murphy and Stripling, along with members of the Chamber of Commerce and other guests.
"AERN welcomes Bibb County into the network," Watters said. "We are excited about adding Bibb, which we believe is well positioned for increased small business development."