Seminar Series Offers Business Experts for Entrepreneurs

The seminar brings together regional professionals who will educate entrepreneurs on a comprehensive range of topics. This series is sponsored by KeyBank and hosted by the New York State Small Business Development Center at SUNY Plattsburgh (North Country SBDC), Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce and SCORE.

"Small businesses are the backbone of our local and national economies, accounting for 98 percent of all businesses in New York and 75 percent of net new jobs every year," said Mark Bennet, vice president of KeyBank and small business relationship manager for Clinton and Franklin counties.  "KeyBank is delighted to support the seminar series and to offer financial expertise and solutions to existing and future small business owners."

"Offering entrepreneurs opportunities to explore issues affecting their established or budding businesses makes this seminar series a pivotal part of our training program," said Dee Clark, regional director of the North Country SBDC. "We are pleased to offer this training along with our resource partners."

The North Country SBDC provides free confidential counseling and management services to new and existing small businesses in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Hamilton, Warren and northern Washington counties. The SBDC office is part of a statewide program funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration and the State of New York.

"We created this program to help small businesses take their business to the next level and to get people who are thinking of opening a new business off to a good start," said Susan Matton, vice president for economic development at Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce. "Together with SCORE, we are pleased to be working with KeyBank and the North Country SBDC to offer this series of seminars. People attending will hear directly from a banker, attorney, accountant, insurance professional, marketing expert and business planning counselor about subjects that are important to everyone in business today."

The Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce is the largest business organization in northern New York serving Clinton, Essex and Franklin counties.  SCORE offers free business advice and mentoring through a network of volunteer business professionals and is a resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration.

The fee to attend is $35 per person and includes refreshments. Everyone who registers by April 24 and attends the seminar will be entered into a drawing for a book helpful to entrepreneurs, which will be given away at the end of the seminar.

To register for the workshop, contact the Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce at 518-563-1000 or log-on to http://northcountrychamber.com/MBTP/eventspage.cfm .

You can also find out more about the North Country SBDC and its workshops by contacting Dee Clark, SBDC director, at 518-564-2042 or by visiting the SBDC website at http://www.plattsburgh.edu/services/support/sbdc .

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