David “Mitch” Mitchell, owner of Richardson and Mitchell Building Services in Scott Depot, stands in front of one his company’s latest projects, the Cross Lanes Veterinary Hospital. Two years ago, Mitchell joined Advantage Valley’s Entrepreneurial League System. Since then, his business has doubled, he said.
Although he had owned businesses before, he entered Advantage Valley's Entrepreneurial League System at a rookie level. In about two years, he's moved up a level and has doubled his business.
He's become an entrepreneur.
"A business owner works in their business and an entrepreneur works on their business ... they think outside the box," he said.
However, the system helping Mitchell and other entrepreneurs across the state could end June 30, as the system's grant funding expires.
"Entrepreneurs can be a significant economic development tool to the state," said Mark Burdette, ELS' general manger. "We are doing the part where the rubber meets the road."
The Entrepreneurial League System began in 2004, with start-up funding from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation. In April 2005, Advantage Valley Inc., the parent of ELS, received part of a $2 million grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, which was used to expand ELS.
ELS helps entrepreneurs develop a business game plan with a personal business coach, all for free. Modeled after the baseball farm team system, participants meet in small groups - Rookie, A, AA, AAA - each month.
The business coach meets individually each week with the entrepreneurs.
Since 2004, ELS has helped more than 150 entrepreneurs, including 77 companies. With 75 percent of the companies reporting, ELS participants bring in more than $30 million in annual revenues and employ more than 300 people.
Just as in baseball, entrepreneurs can move up the ladder as their skills improve. In 2007, 15 clients advanced up in skill level.
Brian Canterbury and Joshua Pearson of Mountaineer Packaging in Dunbar started at the A level and moved up to AA at the start of the year.
Their success has included a 200 percent increase in profits and recognition as West Virginia's 2008 Young Entrepreneurs of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
"It's helped us grow quicker and gave us resources that we would have never had," Pearson said.
David "Mitch" Mitchell, owner of Richardson and Mitchell Building Services in Scott Depot, was not an entrepreneur two years ago.
"I knew what the word meant, but I didn't know how to do it," he said.
Although he had owned businesses before, he entered Advantage Valley's Entrepreneurial League System at a rookie level. In about two years, he's moved up a level and has doubled his business.
He's become an entrepreneur.
"A business owner works in their business and an entrepreneur works on their business ... they think outside the box," he said.
However, the system helping Mitchell and other entrepreneurs across the state could end June 30, as the system's grant funding expires.
"Entrepreneurs can be a significant economic development tool to the state," said Mark Burdette, ELS' general manger. "We are doing the part where the rubber meets the road."
The Entrepreneurial League System began in 2004, with start-up funding from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation. In April 2005, Advantage Valley Inc., the parent of ELS, received part of a $2 million grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, which was used to expand ELS.
ELS helps entrepreneurs develop a business game plan with a personal business coach, all for free. Modeled after the baseball farm team system, participants meet in small groups - Rookie, A, AA, AAA - each month.
The business coach meets individually each week with the entrepreneurs.
Since 2004, ELS has helped more than 150 entrepreneurs, including 77 companies. With 75 percent of the companies reporting, ELS participants bring in more than $30 million in annual revenues and employ more than 300 people.
Just as in baseball, entrepreneurs can move up the ladder as their skills improve. In 2007, 15 clients advanced up in skill level.
Brian Canterbury and Joshua Pearson of Mountaineer Packaging in Dunbar started at the A level and moved up to AA at the start of the year.
Their success has included a 200 percent increase in profits and recognition as West Virginia's 2008 Young Entrepreneurs of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
"It's helped us grow quicker and gave us resources that we would have never had," Pearson said.
"We meet every week with what we could consider our virtual board of directors," Canterbury added. "They ask hard questions and hold our feet to the fire."
Like Burdette, ELS coach Susan Jack believes that fostering an entrepreneurial sprit in the state will help the economy grow.
"I'm a firm believer that small business drives the economy, rather than chasing smoke stacks," Jack said. "We are at a critical juncture. We have to support these folks."
She is direct with what ELS needs.
"We need funding from West Virginians who care about the future of the economy of our state," she said. "It won't fund itself."
Along with traditional grant funding, Burdette and Jack dream of native West Virginia entrepreneurs - even if they have left the state - committing funds to the program.
"Outside-of-the-box thinkers, that's who we want to strike a relationship with," he said.
Not only does ELS want to maintain its current work in Advantage Valley - which includes seven counties in West Virginia, three in eastern Kentucky and one in southern Ohio - the group would like to expand into the entire state, Burdette said.
"Entrepreneurs are hungry and they want to get information," he said. "But they may not have the skills to know where to go."
Losing that training for entrepreneurs would be devastating, Jack said.
"We have been working hard for the last three years and we are on the cusp of busting this thing wide open," she said. "If you look at ELS like a business, we are just coming into ourselves. To lose that would be a real shame."
Mitchell agreed.
"I really hate to think about it," he said, shaking his head. "There's a lot of great people in the ELS and their businesses are growing."
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