Business Development Programs
We Teach Business Owners How To Be In Business
Serving a wide variety of communities, ABEL Business Institute provides third party support to organizations focused on entrepreneurial development, including:
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Business Incubators
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Small Business Development Centers
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Non-Profit Organizations serving Small Business
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Economic Development Corporations
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Public and Private Business Educational Initiatives
The ABEL Business Institute Approach
We Teach Business Owners How To Be In Business
The reality of many small businesses is that while most owners are experts in delivering their product or service to customers, they may not be expert in how to be in business. That may sound hard to believe, but it's exactly where many small business owners hit snags. In the direst instances-far too often-it's the reason otherwise successful business ideas burn brightly for a while, but then fail.
It's not that owners don't understand their product, or even that they misunderstand business principles. Very often, it's that entrepreneurs don't fully understand how to apply business principles to solve the day-to-day problems they face. It's the difference between, say, knowing how to craft the most delectable hand-made chocolates for an adoring crowd of loyal customers-something a business owner may be superior at-and struggling to properly time expenses with sales revenues to ensure there is enough cash coming in each month to pay rent on her chocolate shop, the salary of her chocolatier and the invoices of her cocoa suppliers.
This strikes many as the kind of everyday challenge that a business owner either knows how to handle, or doesn't. But in fact, it's exactly the kind of problem for which solutions can be developed-solutions that teach entrepreneurs how to handle problems like this in the future. And this is exactly the kind of challenge ABEL Business Institute helps entrepreneurs to learn to overcome. We don't just teach entrepreneurs the principles of business; we show them how to apply business principles to the specific demands of their everyday business lives. That is how a small business owner learns how to be in business.
Read Case Studies - ABEL Approach in Action 
The Challenge for Business Support Organizations
Shifting Business Owners from Learning to Doing
There is no shortage of accomplished business education programs run by trusted organizations-community colleges, Small Business Development Centers, and community-based lenders. They excel at delivering important content that entrepreneurs need in order to start or grow their businesses: the importance and components of a business plan, how to develop financial statements, or how to deal with permits and regulations. But by themselves, this important information does not necessarily prepare entrepreneurs to know how to systematically surmount daily crises, or how to address the more personal aspects of running a business, such as leadership, strategy, follow-through and focus-in short, how to be in business.
The ABEL Solution
Bridging Theory and Practice
Partnering with ABEL Business Institute allows your organization to focus on what it does best while providing a turnkey solution that delivers customized education and business assistance meeting the needs of each of your clients. Your organization cultivates community economic growth by working directly with small business owners to educate them, help them navigate government, or provide financing. ABEL Business Institute helps ensure that the outcome of this work results in thriving and sustainable firms.
ABEL seamlessly combines business strategy education to small groups of owners (whether delivered by ABEL or by your organization-see below) with coaching, structured mentorship and practical, hands-on problem solving. We assess the particular needs of each individual business owner, and then help them learn to become more strategic in their business operations using the specific challenges they are facing at the moment as leverage points. In doing so, ABEL ensures that as your clients acquire knowledge, cut through red tape, or infuse their firms with new capital with the help of your organization, they are positioned to leverage that assistance to grow strategically.
Read about the ABEL Business Institute Methodology
The ABEL Offerings
Matching the Needs of Your Organization and Your Clients
ABEL Business Institute offers your organization the opportunity to assist entrepreneurs in different settings to provide to them an overview of basic business principles, perform an in-depth analysis of their firms, and support them through the strategic application of those principles to solve the organizational challenges they face day-to-day.
We Can Teach Business Owners-Or Show You How We Do It
ABEL Business Institute offers organizations a flexible approach to using its proven curriculum and methodology. ABEL's business advisers tailor and deliver classes that meet your and your clients' needs. ABEL Business Institute can also license its curriculum to your organization and train your staff to teach business owners how to be in business. This may be a more cost effective approach for organizations with existing teaching staff.
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How ABEL Business Institute Can Assist Your Organization There are several ways ABEL Business Institute's expertise and proven business training curriculum can be brought to bear in your organization, either as individual approaches or in combination:
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If ABEL's content and approach sounds like it matches your needs, we would be happy to talk about opportunities to customize its delivery to ensure it meets the exact needs of your business clients as well as your organization's budget.
To learn more on how ABEL can benefit your organization, please contact contact us.
Non-Profits