NextLevel Chattanooga Ramping Up For StreetWise ‘MBA' Class Of 2016

Deadline To Enroll In 2016 Class Is Monday

  • Wednesday, May 4, 2016

NexLevel Chattanooga is now recruiting fifteen local businesses for its 2016 StreetWise ‘MBA’ class. NextLevel Chattanooga is an innovative, seven-month program that provides business owners with the knowledge, know-how, and networks necessary to grow their businesses and create jobs, said officials.

Small businesses that are located in the greater Chattanooga area are eligible to participate if they meet the necessary criterion: 

Generate revenues between $250,000 and $10,000,000
Have been in business for at least three years
Have at least one employee besides the owner
Participants must also demonstrate a high level of commitment to complete the program. 

Focused on informing action and achieving results, NextLevel Chattanooga supports small business owners as they each develop their own three-year Strategic Growth Action Plan. Delivered in a format that includes peer-to-peer CEO mentoring sessions, the comprehensive StreetWise 'MBA' curriculum includes topics for small business success, including financial management, marketing and sales, human resources tactics, business strategy development and access to new capital and contracts.  

In partnership with the National Urban League and Interise and with support from local organizations, NextLevel Chattanooga first launched the StreetWise ‘MBA’ in 2015. The first class of 16 area businesses included: 

Dr. Thomas Rumph, Aspire Family Dentistry
Cherita Adams, Blue Orleans Seafood Restaurant
Melinda Bone, Chicken-w-Bones
Charles Bass, CIB Enterprises
James Rogers, Customer Healthcare, LLC
Sarah Hooper, Dish T’ Cooking School & Catering Co.
Amanda Varnell, Dish T’ Cooking School & Catering Co.
Sam Bicking, Docu-Shed
Cheryl Key, John P. Franklin Funeral Home
John “Duke” Franklin, Jr., John P. Franklin Funeral Home
Grace Frank, Grace Frank Group
Norma Maloney, LoAdebar
John “JJ” Jerman, Office Furniture Warehouse
Jason Hill, Papercut Interactive, Inc.
Richard Carmack, RMJ Tactical
Efren Ormaza, Terra Nostra
Wendy Buckner, The Hot Chocolatier 

"By completing this seven month program, these small business owners have shown their commitment to growing their businesses,” said Jean Horstman, CEO of Interise, the Boston-based nonprofit which developed the StreetWise 'MBA' curriculum utilized by the NextLevel Chattanooga program.  “They have invested over 100 hours to develop their Strategic Growth Action Plan, to analyze and improve their business processes, and to develop the leadership skills needed for second-stage business growth. With our partners, we share a belief that building the capacity of established small businesses is key to achieving social and economic resilience. Businesses completing a StreetWise 'MBA' program on average create new jobs at five times the rate of the private sector as a whole.  Last year, they did so at eight times the rate. NextLevel Chattanooga is designed to deliver this same kind of impact locally.” 

More than 3,600 established small businesses across the country have completed Interise’s StreetWise ‘MBA’ curriculum since it was first delivered in Boston a decade ago. StreetWise ‘MBA’ graduates reported revenue growth of nearly 40 percent for 2013. NextLevel Chattanooga has a goal of supporting the growth of local small and disadvantaged-business enterprises, including those owned by women, minorities, and service-disabled veterans. However, disadvantaged- ownership is not a prerequisite for program participation. 

“Chattanooga is an inherently entrepreneurial region and has a long history of achieving job growth through locally- owned small businesses,” said Warren Logan, CEO of the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga, which parented NextLevel Chattanooga. “We recognize an opportunity to help these vital members of our local economy continue to thrive through the development and implementation of strategically-sound plans for growth.” 

The program is supported locally by the Lyndhurst Foundation, the Benwood Foundation and the city of Chattanooga. 

The cost to enroll in NextLevel Chattanooga is $1,500. For more information or to apply, email nextlevelchatt@gmail.com or call 847-2375. Additional information on the program and enrollment process can also be found at www.nextlevelchatt.com. The deadline to apply for the 2016 class is Monday. The first session begins on May 12.
 

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