To encourage entrepreneurship and business sustainability and growth, the city of Woodruff will offer the FastTracSC program to its local business owners starting in January.
The city teamed with marketing firm Simpson and Partners to bring the award-winning FastTrac GrowthVenture Entrepreneurial Program to Woodruff. FastTrac, a hands-on, educational entrepreneurship program, is a comprehensive workshop that provides business owners with leadership and operation skills to expand and improve their businesses.
City Manager Scott Slatton said of the 200 businesses in Woodruff, more than half are owned by local entrepreneurs. He anticipates that the course will fill up quickly.
"The best result of this would be that the course fills up with 15 business owners that can add this class to their tool box of skills and see that they stay in business and grow for the next 15 and 20 years," Slatton said.
That's what local chiropractor Mark Fullerton, owner of Woodruff Chiropractic and Wellness Care, hopes for as well.
After practicing in the city for 15 years, he says it's good to see the business community be given an opportunity like this.
"Anything that's going to help the downtown merchants or our business owners has my support. This area seemed to be ignored for the last several years. We need to do anything we can to help the business merchants and the city," Fullerton said. "There are so many new business owners (in Woodruff) and a lot of programs they're offering are designed for people with little experience in the business world. These (classes) would be invaluable."
Slatton said Virginia Simpson, president of Simpson and Partners, suggested the program for the betterment of the city. The firm has a contract with the city for its marketing campaign, .
"Certainly, the first priority that Virginia has is to produce marketing skills and planning skills for the city. But her relationship with contacts in the business community in the state and nationally is also a product that we didn't expect from her, but she's delivering to us," Slatton said.
"It fits into our planning process by trying to help our businesses become sustainable into the future and that's a part of her charge, to help the city, be it the city government, community or businesses."
Simpson could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Business owners who complete the course will be reimbursed as an added incentive.
"We're very proud of the opportunity to bring this to Woodruff," Slatton said. "We hope that we'll be able to attract business owners outside the area to come to our city to see what we have to offer in terms of the business climate."
The 10-week program is scheduled to run from 6 to 9 p.m. each Thursday beginning Jan. 10. Anyone interested can register at www.fasttrac.org.