Small business help center opens

By: BRADLEY J. FIKES - Staff Writer | Tuesday, January 31, 2006 6:00 AM PST ∞

SAN MARCOS ---- Owners of small businesses that need help but don't know where to turn now have a place to go. It's the Center for Entreprenomics, which officially opened for business Thursday.

A project of the San Diego North Economic Development Council, it was formed to help steer small-business owners and those planning to start businesses to sources of advice or funding, Gary Knight, chief executive of the council, said at a Thursday news conference. The center, housed in the council's offices at 100 N. Rancho Santa Fe Road, Suite 124, will not duplicate services already provided elsewhere, Knight said.

About 70 percent of new small businesses fail, Knight said, and about 95 percent of North County's businesses have five or fewer employees.

"The question is, what can an organization like ours, the Economic Development Council, do to assist those new business startups," he said. "The goal was not to tax resources that we don't have, or to duplicate services that already exist. So what we decided to do was to act as an umbrella or contact group, a distributor of resource information."

"Right now, a new business or even one that's been around for a while, has to stumble across the information," Knight said.

Likewise, service agencies and programs that help small businesses don't know who needs their services, Knight said. They advertise and try to get the word out, but otherwise must wait for clients.

The Center for Entreprenomics will help both businesses and service agencies by playing matchmaker, Knight said.

Knight said the center is scanning new business license applications throughout North County and will be contacting owners to make them aware of how the center can help. The service is free and confidential.

Latino entrepreneurship is a specific goal of the center, which will collect contacts in the Latino community so business owners or those starting businesses can get connected with advice or financial help aimed at them.

For example, Knight said, Latino businesses can get loans through Accion San Diego, a nonprofit lender that provides "non-traditional" loans to entrepreneurs with good ideas but who don't qualify for conventional loans.

Accion's North County loan manager, Veronica Villasenor, described at the news conference how her agency helped a client start an automotive service company.

"One client was a Marine who had an auto body business in his garage on base," Villasenor said. "He wanted to expand his business, but his credit was really poor and he had made a lot of poor choices in his past. We were able to get him a $5,000 loan and he was able to open up a storefront location in Oceanside. Now he puts Lamborghini doors on cars, lowers them, and provides a great, fun resource for the community."

The center can be reached at the council's number 760-598-9311 or at www.entreprenomics.com.

Contact staff writer Bradley J. Fikes at bfikes@nctimes.com or (760) 739-6641. To comment, go to nctimes.com.

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