While “made-up holidays” and “National _____ Weeks” have been on the rise, since 1963, the United States Small Business Administration has celebrated National Small Business Week, which recognizes the critical contributions of America’s entrepreneurs and small business owners. That basically makes National Small Business Week an OG of the made-up holiday scene.
Though National Small Business Week is a nationwide event, Lancaster County is home to a thriving small business community with great resources available to entrepreneurs to help start and grow their businesses.
Here are just a few resources available to entrepreneurs in Lancaster County:
- Co-working spaces in Lancaster County provide a valuable alternative to commercial office space and working from home. There are plenty of co-working options in Lancaster, including The Candy Factory, Rock Candy, Pubforge, Warehouse 210, and Sober Monkey Cafe.
- ASSETS is an organization based in Lancaster City that is available to entrepreneurs that provides microloans, business training and social enterprise training and incubator programs. ASSETS and Lancaster County Community Foundation are currently running a business-plan contest for entrepreneurs called The Great Social Enterprise Pitch.
- The Lancaster-Lebanon Chapter of SCORE provides free mentors to small business owners. SCORE also provides workshops and industry roundtables that cover marketing, finance and accounting, management, and more.
- Lancaster County has many active Chambers of Commerce, including the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce & Industry, the Southern Lancaster County Chamber of Commerce, the Ephrata Area Chamber of Commerce, and more. As an alternative or compliment to traditional bank financing, Community First Fund provides multiple financing options up to $750,000 for startups and small businesses.
For more information about any of the above resources and how they can help your small business, contact us or any of these great organizations through the links above.