Program helps rural areas
advance, plan business goals
By Lori Robison
Staff Reporter
Even the greatest entrepreneurial
ideas can fall flat without proper plan
ning.
And planning for business success
is exactly what fie Enhancing, Devel
oping and Growing Entrepreneur pro
gram is all about.
UNL’s Center for Rural Commu
nity Revitalization and Development
will put the 1996-97 EDGE program
to work in 12 rural Nebraska commu
nities across the state.
Marilyn Schlake, EDGE coordina
tor at UNL, said the program focuses
on creating comprehensive business
plans based on individual situations
and goals.
A few features of successful busi
ness plans, Schlake said, include fea
sible goals, a sound management team,
marketing knowledge and familiarity
with the clientele. If necessary, these
elements may need to be neatly pack
aged for presentation to a bank or other
loan establishment.
“This is really a different kind of
program,” Schlake said. “(Students)
can look at the research for their own
businesses and develop a plan for their
individual business goals.”
First established in 1992 as the
Nebraska Fast Trac Program, EDGE
has met with increasingly positive com
munity responses each year, Schlake
said. The starting date of the classes is
in January, hit some communities, such
as Broken Bow, are already approach
ing the class size limit of 18 business
teams.
Dennis Kahl, extension educator
for the Seward County EDGE Coali
tion, said the program, now in its sec
ond year in the Seward area, owes
much of its success to the curriculum’s
emphasis on real-life issues and indi
vidual situations.
"Instead of putting dollars into
something that won’t work,” he said
“students have a really viable chance
to explore other alternatives.”
For instance, a few business teams
attending the class discovered after
only a few weeks that their plans and
ideas were not feasible, Kahl said. The
concepts learned in this program saved
these people money and time — and
maybe even their businesses, he said.
A town’s entire business commu
nity can benefit from EDGE, largely
because of the program’s local and re
gional emphasis, Kahl said. The em
phasis allows for networking and es
tablishing contacts among local busi
ness owners and entrepreneurs attend
ing the class.
In addition, EDGE’s core curricu
lum—NX (pronounced “next”) Level
Program — developed by Western
Entrepreneurial Network, has been
designed specifically for the Midwest
and is currently being used in 13 states.
But the entire curriculum is not
etched in stone, Kahl said. Each com
munity can tailor the program to meet
its specific needs, including inviting
guest speakers and hiring business
owners for some instruction.
The total cost of the course is about
$10,000 per community. This funding
covers training, instructors, texts and
other needed materials. Each commu
nity is responsible for recruiting spon
sors and raising $5,000 which is then
matched on the state level through
grants from the Department of Eco
nomic Development, USDA Rural
Development, and the U.S. West Foun
dation. Student fees are approximately
$200 each, depending on how many
sponsors a community recruits.
Last year’s recruitment generated
matches of 150 percent, she said.
After successfully sponsoring a
program, each community selects a
representative to serve on the state coa
lition, Schlake said. This committee
decides on a yearly basis which com-;
munities will receive grant money and:
what adaptations, if any, should be;
made in the program.
People interested in learning more;
about a program in their specific area;
can do so by calling the UNL Institute;
of Agriculture and Natural Resources
at 472-3030. 1
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