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Business owners in Saline County will have the opportunity to learn from faculty and staff from Wichita State University’s Center for Entrepreneurship about sales and growth strategies, marketing, branding and more through a certificate program offered locally this fall.
The Salina Area Chamber of Commerce, NetWork Kansas and WSU’s Center for Entrepreneurship partnered to offer the “Growing Rural Businesses” program in Saline County starting Sept. 7. The program is an eight-week training tailored to meet the needs of existing rural businesses that are ready to grow.
“This is a program that specifically is targeted … for business in that sweet spot of six months to five years operating,” said Renee Duxler, president and CEO of the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce. “It will provide an opportunity for them to look at how they might be able to grow or expand, to help them focus on that part of their business.”
Duxler said six months to five years into running a business can be a time when owners get weighed down with everyday tasks that limit time for focusing on longer-term goals.
Here’s how this certificate program could help people who might be experiencing that.
Saline County business owners can learn from experts this fall
Faculty at Wichita State provides hands-on, practical solutions and techniques to grow and modernize business ventures while living in a rural setting.
Through small group exercises, case studies, and interactive discussions with peers, facilitators and industry experts, business owners will gain insight to the evolving business world and how it could apply to their business models.
More than 396 businesses across a variety of industries have participated in this instruction, which is offered less than a handful of times per year on a competitive basis. A grant to the Saline County E-Community from NetWork Kansas will provide part of the funding for the training and participants will have a small registration fee.
“We’re really excited to be able to offer this; we know there are a lot of businesses in Salina in that six months to five-year time frame,” Duxler said. “A lot of (Chamber) support has been with startups, so this is exciting because it is really going to help those businesses that are running and might have reached forks in the road and can help support the direction they want to go.”
How the program is structured and where to sign up
When: 5:30 to 8:30 p.m Thursdays, Sept. 2 through Nov. 2
Where: Visit Salina Annex, 120 W. Ash St.
There is a program fee of $250 per person. A $50 Early Bird Registration discount is available for those registering by Aug. 25 and those who attend six of the eight sessions will receive a $50 rebate upon conclusion.
The Chamber is partnering with local banks to provide participants with a light dinner each Thursday. The Chamber is also providing vouchers for those who might need childcare services during the sessions. Duxler said the Chamber did not want the cost of childcare to prevent a qualified person from participating.
“Growing Rural Business” sessions
- Sept. 7: Entrepreneurial Mindset for Small Businesses
- Sept. 14: Customer Discovery: The Roadmap to a Successful Marketing Plan
- Sept. 21: The Digital Branding Intensive: Unleash Your Promotional Power
- Sept. 28: Basic Sales Techniques and Practices for Selling
- Oct. 5: Creating Value for your Customers
- Oct. 12: Practical Legal Issues
- Oct. 19 or Oct. 26: Keeping a Financial Focus
- Nov. 2: Bringing It All Together: Developing an Effective Niche Strategy
More information and registration links for the Growing Rural Businesses Entrepreneurial Certificate Program can be found at www.wichita.edu/grb.
Kendrick Calfee has been a reporter with the Salina Journal since 2022, primarily covering government and education. You can reach him at kcalfee@gannett.com or on Twitter (now known as “X”) @calfee_kc.
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