Best Practices = Managed Faster Growth

August 2009 - HPE Advisors announces a services and training grant to the nationwide business networks of the Small Business Development Centers (US) and Community Futures (Canada). The total grant is valued at $84 million, for in-kind services and training for up to 127,200 locally-owned small businesses.

Locally-owned offices of Sunbelt Business Brokers, in the US and Canada, are the underwriters of the program, along with other community-minded local sponsors.

There are 1,000 SBDC offices and 272 Community Futures and the Independent Sunbelt Brokers are are providing a grant to each organization to serve 100, locally-owned businesses, with annual revenues under $1 million, for each office. The grant consists of 100 anuual subscriptions to the HPE Business Acceleration Program for each of the 1,272 offices. The training and services grants total $66,000 for each office and $84 million in total. HPE Advisors support the costs of maintaining the web-based system, and provide the training and ongoing support to the business advisors. The nationwide networks of SBDCs and Community Futures offer free business consulting, which can be enhanced with the use of the HPE Business Accelerator Program.

The HPE Business Accelerator Program has been tested in SBDC's in Washington and California, and has helped increase revenues and profitability for businesses that implemented the higher-performance best practices detailed in the program. One group of 30 SBDC clients increased revenues 406% in three years, from a total of $14 million to over $76 million.

Individual SBDCs can access the grant by applying online, receiving training and 100 manuals to promote and support the system. The manual is entitled Best Practices of High Performance Entrepreneurs. It is an upgrade to the best selling family-business book The Family Business: Power Tools for Survival, Success and Succession. The authors are Russell Allred MBA, Corey Hansen MScOD, and Roger Allred CPA. Each is appropriately credentialed as a business expert and have been published or quoted in prestigious business journals including Inc. Magazine, USA Today, Journal of Accountancy and many others.

SBDC and CF offices wishing to participate can apply by contacting Russ Allred at 661-319-3072 or Russ@HPEbook.com.