Mobile resource center for small businesses visits Brenau

BRIDGE, a 501(c)3 organization, brings its Mobile Resource Center to Brenau University for its first-ever stop on Friday, May 16.

Brenau’s College of Business and Communication is partnering with the non-profit mobile resource center to assist small business owners with mentorship, business coaching and other guidance.

“I am honored that the College of Business and Communication has an opportunity to partner with BRIDGE to bring small business resources to the Greater Hall County area,” Dean Shatrela Washington-Hubbard, Ph.D., said. “It is exciting to host the first event for this initiative and I look forward to the positive outcomes that this partnership will bring for all stakeholders.”

BRIDGE’s mobile unit launched this month. Brenau will host the mobile unit at the John W. Jacobs Jr. building on Green Street. Kimber Armstrong with the Better Business Bureau of Atlanta said through BRIDGE, resources can meet local entrepreneurs where they are and in their own community.

“This partnership with Brenau University and the Gainesville community marks a powerful step in our mission to deliver meaningful, on-the-ground support to small businesses that need it most,” Armstrong said. “Gainesville is the beginning of something much bigger: a statewide movement to ensure small business success is accessible, inclusive, and sustainable.”

Armstrong said she and Washington-Hubbard had a conversation about how the small businesses locally could use some extra help, and how the mobile resource unit could benefit the Gainesville area.

“We started planning and collaborating on programming in November of last year,” Armstrong said. “She gathered a group of diverse leaders in Gainesville and had me come out to meet with them and show what BRIDGE is all about.”

The BRIDGE Mobile Resource Center is designed to work with other business support entities, such as the chamber of commerce, to help business owners develop strategies for longevity and success. Partners include the BBB, University of Georgia Small Business Development Center, Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs, and others.

Small business owners should sign up to attend the event on Friday, May 16, from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. A kick-off event will take place Thursday night from 5-7 p.m. to preview what the mobile resource center will offer.