UA’s Entrepreneurial Research Network Receives Grant to Foster Business in State’s Rural Areas

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama Entrepreneurial Research Network, based in The University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Commerce, has received a $50,000 grant from the Delta Regional Authority to continue its program of fostering business opportunities in the state’s rural areas.

The grant will be administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Two USDA representatives, Teresa St. John, area specialist, and Patricia R. Butler, rural development specialist, were on campus recently to discuss the grant with Cindy Jones, UA director of the Office for Sponsored Programs, and the co-directors of the Alabama Entrepreneurial Research Network, Annette Watters of the Center for Business and Economic Research, and Paavo Hanninen, director of UA’s Small Business Development Center.

The Alabama Entrepreneurial Research Network works through chambers of commerce and industrial development authorities to provide business services to people starting small businesses, services such as viable business plans, Internet technology and other resources that are usually out of the financial reach of many small businesses.

“If these rural communities are going to grow and prosper, we have to find a way to increase employment opportunities, and one way is through the creation of new local businesses,” Hanninen said. “The lack of jobs in many of these areas forces people, many of them young people, to leave home to look for work and better living conditions.”

The Delta Regional Authority is a federal-state partnership serving a 240-county/parish area in an eight-state region. It is designed to remedy severe and chronic economic distress by stimulating economic development and fostering partnerships that will have a positive impact on the region’s economy.

At the local level, the Authority coordinates efforts with a combination of agencies. Assisting it are Local Development Districts, regional entities with a proven track record of helping small municipalities, counties and parishes improve basic infrastructure and stimulate growth. The Authority also partners with USDA’s Rural Development Administration. Through their network of state and local offices, the Rural Development Administration assists the Delta Regional Authority not only with project evaluation criteria for proposed projects but also with the administration of projects.

The Alabama Entrepreneurial Research Network assists businesses in Perry, Sumter, Greene, Hale, Marengo, Wilcox and Dallas counties, but plans are to extend into Monroe and Choctaw counties. The Alabama counties are included in the Delta Regional Authority’s service area, thus the Authority is making the grant.

Sandy Smith, executive director of the Monroeville Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the news about the grant, some of which will be used in Monroeville.

“If you are a Fortune 500 company you don’t have problems getting business information, but it costs ordinary people a lot of money to get that information on their own. What I want to do is bring the information down to the grassroots level so that everyday businesses can use it.”

Under the terms of the grant contract, the money can be used to identify and analyze business opportunities that will use local natural and human resources; identify, train, and provide technical assistance to existing or prospective rural entrepreneurs and managers; and establish business support centers and otherwise assist in the creation of new rural businesses.

The UA undergraduate business program at the Culverhouse College of Commerce, is ranked 53rd nationally by U.S. News and World Report. The undergraduate accounting program at the Culverhouse School of Accountancy is ranked number 25 nationally in the latest Public Accounting Report rankings.