SBANE - A Great Resource for New England Businesses

If you own a business in New England, no matter how large or small, I urge you to check out SBANE - Smaller Business Association of New England. SBANE has terrific events - including monthly breakfast meetings in Waltham with interesting speakers, an annual dinner in the Fall, and the Innovation Awards dinner in the Spring. Past winners of the Innovation Awards read like a who's who of New England businesses ranging from Nantucket Nectars to iRobot.

In addition to these events, SBANE offers a real value proposition as they customize intellectual and capital solutions for small businesses. Here is a list of some of their programs:

1. Lay-Off Aversion Program: SBANE offers consulting assistance to manufacturers and pays for 50% of the cost of high powered consulting. The state legislature has appropriated $500K for this program which has been distributed to over 50 companies.
2. Raytheon IDS Supplier Partnership: Raytheon and SBANE have forged a close alliance which permits SBANE to introduce small businesses' technological capabilities to the large defense prime contractor. Several contracts have evolved out of that matchmaking.
3. Supplier Loan Diversity Initiative: SBANE has partnered with bank and non-bank lenders to launch a $3 million loan pool to help access working capital for minority and woman owned enterprises that secure contracts from the government or large corporations.
4. Financial Placement: SBANE has provided unconditional capital solutions to companies in distress or in various stages of growth.

Call the President of SBANE, Bob Baker, at 781-890-9070 if you are interested in learning more. The website is www.sbane.org. If you are on the South Shore, please contact me if you are interested in increasing SBANE's presence in our region.