Sponsors

Many organizations came together to make this course a reality. What follows is a little background on each.

Montana Department of Commerce

The Business Resources Division is comprised of a variety of programs aimed at improving, enhancing, and diversifying Montana's economic and business climate. Working closely with the private sector, our economic and community development partners, other department divisions, state agencies, and federal and private programs, the division strives to enhance the economic base of Montana through business creation, expansion, and retention efforts. Technical and financial assistance and relationships with local development groups, chambers, and similar organizations provide a springboard to help Montana communities develop their full economic potential. Economic development responsibilities are mandated primarily in Title 30, Chapter 16; Title 17, Chapter 6; and Title 90, Chapter 1, MCA.

MicroBusiness Technical Assistance Program

The Montana MicroBusiness Technical Assistance Program is funded primarily through a grant from the United States Small Business Administration. The goal of the program is to provide technical assistance to low to moderate income individuals to assist them in obtaining private sector financing of up to $25,000 to start or expand a small business. The focus of the Montana program is to supplement existing business counseling and training resources by providing basic business management training through a combination of traditional classroom style training and Internet training.

MicroBusiness Development Centers

The MicroBusiness Development Centers provide financing and technical assistance to help businesses expand or get started. The MBDCs make loans of up to $35,000 for working capital, equipment, or other fixed assets for qualified microbusinesses. A qualified microbusiness must be a Montana based business that has ten or fewer employees and less than $500,000 in annual revenues. Our web site lists all of the local MBDC offices.

Small Business Administration

The U.S. Small Business Administration, established in 1953, provides financial, technical and management assistance to help Americans start, run, and grow their businesses. With a portfolio of business loans, loan guarantees and disaster loans worth more than $45 billion, in addition to a venture capital portfolio of $13 billion, SBA is the nation's largest single financial backer of small businesses. Last year, the SBA offered management and technical assistance to more than one million small business owners. The SBA also plays a major role in the government's disaster relief efforts by making low-interest recovery loans to both homeowners and businesses. America's 25 million small businesses employ more than 50 percent of the private work force, generate more than half of the nation's gross domestic product, and are the principal source of new jobs in the U.S. economy.

FastTrac
 An educational program of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

FastTrac is a comprehensive entrepreneurship-educational program that provides entrepreneurs with business insights, leadership skills and professional networking connections so they are prepared to create a new business or expand an existing enterprise.

FastTrac programs are resources for entrepreneurs that have been developed by and with hundreds of successful entrepreneurs who have shared their knowledge, insights, and stories so that others might learn from them. In 1998 FastTrac won the Small Business Administration's Model of Excellence Award for Entrepreneurial Education. Simply put, FastTrac is one of America's leading entrepreneurial training programs and remains on the cutting edge by providing programs that are written by entrepreneurs...taught by entrepreneurs...for entrepreneurs.

FastTrac programs are currently provided by over 300 organizations in 50 states. FastTrac programs are also being offered outside the U.S. in Australia and Russia. More than 200,000 aspiring and existing entrepreneurs have been reached through FastTrac programs in the United States since 1993.

FastTrac programs were first launched through the University of Southern California's Entrepreneurship Program in Los Angeles in 1986. In an effort to launch the FastTrac program nationally and continue accelerating entrepreneurship in America, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation became the major funder and supporter of FastTrac in 1993.

Today the various FastTrac programs are offered in both urban and rural settings through organizations and colleges/universities that, like FastTrac, are "helping people pursue their entrepreneurial dreams." FastTrac is a success because of the strong partnerships with local organizations that have a passion for serving the entrepreneurs in their community.

Community Development Block Grant Program

The Montana Department of Commerce receives approximately $2.5 million each year from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. These funds are administered by the Business Resources Division and distributed to communities for loans to businesses to stimulate economic development activity that creates or retains jobs primarily for individuals from low and moderate income families. The program assists businesses by providing flexible interest rates and loan terms to complement conventional bank financing and other federal and state finance programs. Loan repayments are retained locally to re-lend to other businesses in the community, thus creating a local revolving loan fund.