Northern Border Regional Commission, USDA Rural Development funding to help create pilot program to find new entrepreneurs
By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — A pilot program that aims to connect local investors with entrepreneurs eager to start up community-benefiting businesses has received integral funding from two separate government sources.
Officials with the Northern Maine Development Commission (NMDC) have been awarded $50,000 through a USDA Rural Development Rural Business Opportunity Grant to develop the NMDC Entrepreneurial Program: the USDA grant will be matched through funds provided by the Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC) to the Northern Maine Finance Corporation for $50,000. One of the purposes of the NBRC funding is to provide match funds to other federal grant programs such as the NMDC Entrepreneurial Program, according to NMDC officials.
As described by Duane Walton, director of business finance for NMDC, the pilot Entrepreneurial Program emerged after local investors expressed their interest in finding acceptable entrepreneurs willing to run businesses that would add to the community’s appeal to invest in.
The goal of the program is not to have entrepreneurs pitch potential business ideas to a panel of investors, rather, a panel of investors would select which business they would like to see developed in their community and select a driven entrepreneur to carry that funded idea to fruition.
The selection process to become an entrepreneur through this pilot program is rigorous and not for the half-hearted. Potential entrepreneurs will have to pick one of the investor-chosen business types, develop a business plan and a competitive analysis through working with NMDC officials and listening to the experience of the programs’ investors.
After thorough business development and entrepreneurial scrutiny, Walton is hopeful that a few individuals that have the desire, the spirit, the will and the gumption to work hard and own their own business will successfully emerge.
“But the time we get to presenting [the business] to the potential investors, entrepreneurs will have to be 100 percent in love with their goals, and the goals have to be achievable and sustainable,” Walton said.
While the successful emergence of a driven business owner would be a boon for the community, the pilot-program is still in developmental stages.
Developing the Entrepreneur Program would entail a search for interested parties, development of business plans, market strategies and the complete package necessary to present a successful and sustainable business in the community that the investors as well as community leaders feel is needed in their community.
A final outline of the steps the pilot program is slated for completion by mid-November, with official announcement ads going out by the end of the year.
According to Walton, the pilot program will focus on Caribou with the intent on using the best practices documented through the Caribou-based pilot program through Aroostook and Washington counties to spur business creation and economic development.
“NMDC believes there are investors in all parts of the counties that have an overwhelming desire to invest in the improvement of their local or surrounding communities if the right person or persons are found,” he said.
Additional information regarding NMDC can be obtained by visiting www.NMDC.org.
