St. Louis National Small Business Week Event to Feature Mentoring and Workshops on Starting and Growing Your Small Business

WASHINGTON, June 13, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Entrepreneurs in the "Show-Me" state will receive advice and best practices from successful local business leaders from the U.S. Small Business Administration's resource partner network on June 19 at the SBA's National Small Business Week event in St. Louis.

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The speed mentoring, informational sessions and workshops will be held at the Harris-Stowe State University in St. Louis, MO.

During the event, SBA Administrator Karen Mills will join David Steward, founder and chairman of World Wide Technology, a $5 billion systems integrator firm for an arm chair interview.   World Wide Technology provides IT and supply chain solutions to customers around the world and is a graduate of the SBA's 8(a) Business Development Program.  In 2012, World Wide Technology was named number one on the list of largest Black-owned firms by Black Enterprise magazine. 

The day's breakout sessions will include utilizing the small business supply chain with discussions led by experts on government contracting, and workshops on global entrepreneurship featuring an expert from the Missouri Department of Economic Development.  Local business leaders will lead a discussion on the "St. Louis Entrepreneurial Ecosystem."

Additional sessions will include a panel of lender and venture capital experts providing tips on how to access capital in various stages of a business, an in-depth discussion on the Affordable Care Act and an online Google + Hangout on "How a Mentor Can Help Your Business."

The St. Louis-area National Small Business Week event will be live streamed at www.sba.gov/smallbusinessweek.  The live-streaming of all National Small Business Week events is provided by Microsoft.

Every year since 1963, the U.S. Small Business Administration takes the opportunity to highlight through National Small Business Week the impact of outstanding entrepreneurs, small business owners, and others from all 50 states and U.S. territories. This year's event will be held June 17-21, in Seattle, Dallas, St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. offering tips, tools and training for small businesses to start, succeed and grow. In addition to in-person events, small business owners can participate in online-only panel discussions on hot topics like social media and business financing starting daily at 4 p.m. ET. All events, in-person and online, will be streamed live on www.sba.gov/smallbusinessweek. The event hashtag is #SBW2013.

Small Business Week 2013 sponsors include: Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Microsoft, National Association of the Self Employed (NASE), Arlington Texas Chamber of Commerce, AT&T, ADP, Western Pennsylvania Small Business Network, Staples, Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp., Visa, Women Impacting Public Policy, Lockheed Martin, National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders, Business Forward and Office Depot.

The U.S. Small Business Administration's participation in this cosponsored activity does not constitute an express or implied endorsement of any cosponsor's, donor's, grantee's, contractor's or participant's opinions, products or services. All SBA programs and cosponsored programs are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Reasonable arrangements for persons with disabilities will be made, if requested at least two weeks in advance, by contacting [email protected]. Cosponsorship Authorization #SBW2013.

Release Number: 13-36

Contact: Tiffani S. Clements (202) 401-0035
Internet Address: http://www.sba.gov/news

SOURCE U.S. Small Business Administration