Business leader tells

symposium 'how he got here,' what he learned

        EPHRAIM—Entrepreneurs, would-be entrepreneurs and government leaders from throughout the six-county region packed the second annual Business Symposium at Snow College last week.

        Sponsored by the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Snow College and the Sanpete County Office of Economic Development, the symposium focused on finding business financing and Internet marketing.

        The highlight was a keynote address by Utah business mogul Alan E. Hall, founder of MarketStar, a marketing company that has helped clients like Hewlett Packard, 3Com and Sony reach sales of $10 billion worldwide, and Grow Utah Ventures, a business incubator and venture capital firm that is working with the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. He was named Entrepreneur of the Year in Utah in 1997.

        Symposium participants and Snow students packed the Jorgensen Concert Hall at the Eccles Center to hear Hall discuss “How I Got Here and Lessons Learned Along the Way.”

        “We’ve found that there are many programs, incentives and resources of which most business owners are not aware,” says Kevin Christensen, Sanpete County director of economic development.

        Which is why, he says, the symposium planners put an emphasis on educating attendees on not just services available but who to contact to receive them.

        “The symposium will help people get acquainted with what’s available and understand how to implement these programs and ideas in their business for greater success,” Christensen said.

        The first session, “Meet the Money People: Financing your Business,” dealt with financing a new business or growing an existing one.

        It included advice and tips from a panel of professionals from around the state including John Holt, moderator with Celtic Bank; Mike Vanchiere, vice president of Mountain West Small Business Finance; John Gygi, Utah office of the U.S. Small Business Administration; Gordon Holt, president of the Utah Business Lending Corp.; Kent Christensen, administrator of Six County Association of Governments loan programs; Richard McEntire of USDA Rural Development; and Keith Church, a consultant to the SBDC at Snow.

        The session also included a segment titled “Financial Incentives and Resources Through the Governor’s Office of Economic Development” featuring Les Prall from the office.

        Alan Christensen, SBCD director at Snow, says one criticism he received was that the session on business financing was not long enough. “And that is not so bad, because that means people wanted more,” he says.

        Another option for making money in Sanpete County is to market outside the county via the Internet.

        “Internet Marketing: Grow Beyond Sanpete” was the second session at the symposium. It featured Bill Reave, director of technology in student affairs at Snow College; Jim Bob Pipes of City Web Systems in Manti; and Richard Duncan, retired Snow professor who has a significant Ebay marketing operation.

        Their message was that with the right idea and know-how, Sanpete County residents could make money online.

        Hall’s address represented a compilation of what he has learned over 35 years in business.

“It was really neat to have such a sincere presenter,” Christensen said. People were inspired in a way that is believable. Alan Hall is a down-to-earth speaker. … People left the speech thinking, ‘Maybe I can do that.’”

        At a luncheon following his speech, Hall explained his work with Grow Utah Ventures and SEED Utah to local government officials and invited business owners.

        Grow Utah Ventures has joined with the Governor’s Office of Economic Development and the Economic Development Corporation of Utah to launch an initiative known as Stimulating the Expansion of Entrepreneurial Development (SEED).

        SEED Utah will offer roughly $1 for every $2 that county governments invest in entrepreneurial development. While SEED provides financing, Grow Utah Ventures will offer business consultation and services to help get companies off the ground.

        SEED Utah has already taken root in other counties, recently in Washington County. Hall says he hopes SEED Utah will sprout and grow all over Utah.