Elgin Area Small Business Academy celebrates Class of 2016

The commencement ceremony for the Elgin Area Chamber's inaugural Elgin Area Small Business Academy class will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, July 16 at D Hangout Bar and Grill, 550 S. McLean Blvd. in Elgin.

This highly successful program provided nearly 20 prospective entrepreneurs and existing business owners with small business fundamentals through a series of monthly interactive classroom-style presentations and discussions from local small business professionals. Topics covered over the course of the six-month academy included marketing and advertising, sales strategies, operations and management.

The sessions also enabled participants to develop a solid network of business contacts from both classmates and presenters.

Businesses that participated ran the gamut from smaller startup ventures such as Kay Morrisoe's HospitaliTea, an artisan craft tea business located inside Elgin's State Street Market, and Aaron Bowgren's Aaroco, Inc., a home-based technology consulting company located in South Elgin, to more established small businesses such as Leo Urdaneta's Domani Café coffee shop in downtown Elgin.

Former Pingree Grove Police Chief Carol Lussky's Sheep Wreck Farm, which sells fiber made from Jacob sheep wool, found the program to be very successful in helping her grow her business venture.

"Our EASBA volunteer committee did a wonderful job of developing the content and framework for this academy," said Elgin Area Chamber President/CEO Carol Gieske. "It takes a great deal of time and effort to put all of these pieces together in creating something that our participants have really found valuable in starting or growing their business."

After commencement the EASBA committee, which consists of Keith Rauschenberger of Rauschenberger Financial Advisors, Nancy Abuali of MEA Cargo, Rusty Wimberly of Severity Design, as well as chamber and Elgin Development Group staff, will begin meeting to discuss plans for the Small Business Academy's Class of 2017 slated to begin in January of next year.

The Elgin Area Small Business Academy is modeled after the Elgin Area Chamber's award-winning Elgin Area Leadership Academy, which begins its 2016-17 class in October 2016. To learn more about the small business academy, visit elginchamber.com.