Program sharpens
small business skills
By Melanie Brandert
Staff Reporter
A UNL training program helps
Nebraska small business owners
sharpen their business skills.
The Fast Trac Entrepreneurial
Training Program was designed to
teach small business owners how to
expand their businesses, develop
market strategies or build manage
ment teams, said Marilyn Schlake,
program coordinator for the Center
for Rural Community Revitaliza
tion and Development.
“It’s for people who want to
improve their business,” she said.
“They can create their own jobs,
create other jobs for people or cre
ate community growth.”
Eleven sites in Nebraska, with
additional sites planned, are served
by coalitions of local residents. As
the program’s governing board,
each coalition determines which
course and curriculum will be of
fered and chooses a starting date in
either September or January.
“It varies as to the makeup of the
people in the community and those
interested in the economic growth of
the community or region,” she said.
Local coalitions also can regu
late the cost of the program, Schlake
said, as long as sufficient funding is
available. The suggested fee for the
program is $ 175.
Schlake said the training pro
gram, which initially began in Nor
folk, Omaha and Scottsbluff, was
funded mostly by a grant from the
U.S. West Foundation. Other con
tributors include the State Fast Trac
Coalition, the Nebraska Department
of Economic Development and the
Cooperative Extension Service.
Tne state coalition office in Filley
Hal 1 on East Campus oversees man
agement of the program, sets certi
fication standards for the courses
and trains program instructors and
coordinators, she said.
Dennis Kahl, extension educa
tor for Seward County, said the
program would soon begin in the
Seward area. Small business own
ers in the area need help planning
for the future, Kahl said.
“It provides businesses within
the community and the county to
have an opportunity to improve,
expand, grow or take on new em
ployees” he said.
Kahl said he hoped to enroll 20
to 25 people in the program. Classes,
which will be held in Milford,
Seward and Utica, are scheduled to
start Jan. 8, he said.
The 11-session, weekly program
has been successful, Schlake said.
A survey of participants indicated
that about 80 percent had created
full-time jobs after the program.
Results from a follow-up survey
indicated 90 percent of participants
generated more positions, she said.
Ed Oxford of Sargent enrolled
in the Fast Trac program last
year and wrote a business plan for
his craft business on profits and
losses and three- to five-year pro
jections on cash flow to present to
his local bank.
“You take into account book
keeping, taxes, EPA regulations,
what you need to change, what’s
making money,” he said.
The program also provided a
way for Oxford, who attended
courses in Broken Bow, to experi
ment with the latest technology.
The availability of information
on the Internet impressed him,
Oxford said. His class spent three
hours navigating the information
superhighway at the University of
Nebraska at Kearney library during
one of the sessions.
“I think what I was impressed
with most was being able to find
your market and availability of sup
plies,” he said. “It was awesome to
me to know all that information is
there.
“I wish I had taken something
like this before I started.”
Speaker
to critique
U.S. media
By Kasey Kerber
Staff Reporter
Cornelius Alexander, a press of
ficer for New Scotland Yard in Lon
don, will address the Nebraska
Wesleyan Forum on Friday.
His presentation, “An American
BBC? One English View on the News
Media,” will contrast the news media
of the United States with the United
Kingdom and the British Broadcast
ing Corp. It may later air on Omaha
public radio station KIOS-FM (91.5).
“He’s going to discuss how our
media differ from theirs and talk a
little bit probably on the way our me
dia get and expect more information
in many cases,” said Robert Oberst,
Wesleyan’s political science depart
ment chairman.
Oberst met Alexander in Asia and
arranged for him to come to Nebraska
Wesleyan University.
“When I first spoke to him, one
thing that amazed him was the Okla
homa City bombing coverage,” Oberst
said.
“Compared to the amount of news
coverage and exposure there would
be in Britain, it was phenomenal.”
Alexander also will look at the
British broadcasting system and con
trast it with the American media.
“The BBC had a monopoly on the
media until about 20 years ago,” Oberst
said. “Even now it continues to be one
of the foremost news organizations in
the world.”
Oberst said one reason the BBC
has a world-renowned reputation was
its commitment to presenting unbi
ased news.
“Stories very scldomly include a
showing of sentiment,” he said. “They
just present the facts.”
Alexander will speak at 10 a.m. at
the Elder Memorial and Speech Cen
ter. The forum is free and open to the
public.
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