NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Region is included in a the latest progress report conducted by Babson College as a part of an independent review showing how and why the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses initiative is helping entrepreneurs across the United States grow their businesses and create jobs.
The Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program at Delgado Community College has been in operation since 2011. Delgado Community College is the Gulf South regional center for the program, and business owners access the 10,000 Small Businesses business and management education program through the college. Participation is free to business owners, who are accepted through a competitive application process
The report, Stimulating Small Business Growth, is based on survey results from participants of the program. The report analyzes small business growth during, and after, their participation in the 10,000 Small Businesses program and found between when the business owners start in the program and six months after graduation, 69% of the participants have reported increasing their revenues and 48% of participants added new jobs.
In New Orleans, the percentage of local program alumni that increased revenues exceeds the national averages and the percent that added jobs is on par with the national averages.
“There is no doubt that the 10,000 Small Businesses initiative is helping local business owners succeed, and their success is fueling the growth of the New Orleans regional economy,” Joan Y. Davis, chancellor of Delgado Community College, said. “Enhanced entrepreneurial activity, increased business revenues and new jobs are the result of this ongoing partnership between small business owners, Delgado Community College and Goldman Sachs.”
The program has reached over 500 small businesses in the greater New Orleans/ Gulf South area since its 2011 launch at Delgado. This number includes over 450 businesses from the program at Delgado as well as over $12.5 million in loans from program capital partner Hope Enterprise to over 50 businesses.
“As we work with business owners we see that the program has a transformational impact on the business owners and their businesses,” Carla Coury, executive director of the program at Delgado, said. “The report clearly shows the positive impact the 10,000 Small Businesses program has had on the economy in New Orleans and the Gulf South region.”
The report outlines that the 10,000 Small Businesses program has a graduation rate of 99%, and findings show that 84% of the small business owners in the program have done, or are doing, business with each other.
The 10,000 Small Businesses program started in New York in 2009 and, with more than 125 partners and affiliate organizations, has helped more than 6,300 small business owners in 30 sites in the United States and Great Britain.
“Through 10,000 Small Businesses, we see businesses grow their revenues and create new jobs, while we learn more about a critical sector of the economy: small businesses that are not new or from any particular industry, but develop or flourish through models of peer learning and business collaboration,” said Patricia G. Greene, Babson College professor, national academic director for Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses and lead author of the report.
Applications are now being accepted for the next class of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program at Delgado Community College.
