Start-up and Growth Help Provided for Lake Geneva Businesses
“Many people mistakenly believe the sole objective of the Lake Geneva Economic Development Corporation (LGEDC) is to bring new businesses and employment to the community from outside Lake Geneva. While this is important, assisting Lake Geneva businesses to grow or become established is also a major LGEDC task,” stated Michael Ploch, president of LGEDC recently.
Statistics show that between 75 and 80 per cent of employment growth in a community comes from expansion and growth of local businesses. “This is why LGEDC offers a variety of programs and services to assist business growth,” said Ploch.
Financing for this growth is often difficult. LGEDC has the “Economic Development Master Fund”, for businesses in Lake Geneva, which can provide loans and/or grants to encourage business expansion or start-up projects. These funding processes can be utilized for businesses ranging from retail to manufacturing as well as store fronts to permanent equipment.
It is also the task of LGEDC to coordinate financial and other resources so business people can start with a single location in their approach to business start-up or growth. Examples of the financial resources coordinated by LGEDC are from the State of Wisconsin, Walworth County Economic Development Alliance, Small Business Development Corporation, Wisconsin Business Development Alliance as well as local banks.
LGEDC has also cooperated with the City of Lake Geneva in planning for Industrial Revenue Bonding to finance local manufacturing facilities. This is a process that involves state and local agencies for lower rate financing.
Many times it is equally important for new and smaller business owners/managers to have access to management information on a local basis. LGEDC cooperates regularly with the Small Business Development Center, UW-Whitewater (SBDC) in providing some of this information as well as directing local business people to the proper sources for added knowledge they request.
Among other LGEDC services are the “Breakfast and Learn” seminars where speakers on specific business topics are provided for local business people at no cost to participants. The second of these series has recently been completed with more anticipated. Soon LGEDC will be coordinating no cost “One-On-One Business Counseling” sessions for Lake Geneva business people. These individual counseling sessions will start in February in conjunction with SBDC.
Other business assistance provided by LGEDC has been to contact various local, regional and stategovernment agencies on behalf of businesses wanting to grow or make changes.
For further LGEDC assistance in these areas I can be reached at my e-mail.