With the holiday shopping season just around the corner, the North Carolina Community Colleges Small Business Center Network (SBCN) encourages you to #ShopSmall and support your local small businesses.
Nestled between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday® has quickly become a nationally recognized day to support local independent merchants with the power of local dollars.
“Local independent business is the heart and soul of Bladen County commerce,” says Bladen Community
College Small Business Center (SBC) Director, Todd Lyden. “We’ve taken the opportunity to work with the Chamber in the past few years to highlight the impact of small business to the community.”
Small Business Saturday® was founded by American Express in 2010 as a day to celebrate local businesses through the holiday shopping season. The day has since grown into a powerful movement in support of local small businesses every day and everywhere.
According to American Express, 2017 drew an estimated 108 million consumers reported shopping or dining at local small businesses on Small Business Saturday®, generating approximately $12 billion in spending.
Shop local is always promoted by the Elizabethtown-White Lake Area Chamber of Commerce. Chamber Executive Director Dawn Maynard said, “We promote “Shopping Local” all year long to our community. The “Shop Small” weekend recognized nationally comes at a perfect time to sync with our “Shop Local” themed parade and “Shop Local” motto!”
The Small Business Administration notes that Small Businesses comprise 99.9 percent of all firms in the U.S. marketplace and have accounted for 66 percent of net new jobs from 2000 – 2017. The SBA defines, a small business as an independent business with 500 or fewer employees. Small Business Saturday® is an opportunity to support the local small businesses that provide economic vitality and quality of life to communities. The SBCN encourages shopping local and shopping small on
#SmallBizSat November 24. Help make a lasting impact in the place you call home, #shopsmall Small Business Saturday
Visit www.bladencc.edu/continuing-education/small-business-center/or call 910.879.5572 for additional information. Thinking about starting a business in Bladen County or growing an existing business? Take advantage of the programs, services, and resources provided by the Small Business Center which has office spaces for lease for your business. The NC Community College’s Small Business Center Network facilitates an economic impact in 90 percent of all NC counties each year and ranks number one in the U.S. for total business seminars and participants. In addition, the network helps start an average of over 700 businesses every year and works to create and
retain 3,800 jobs annually for North Carolina. Visit ncsbc.net for more information.
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