NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Region is included in a new 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.
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.
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, 67% of the participants have reported increasing their revenues and 46% of participants added new jobs.
The report outlines that the 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.
Among 10,000 Small Businesses scholars in New Orleans, graduates from the program at Delgado report that 69% have increased their revenues just six months after graduating, and 44% have created net new jobs. The program has reached over 400 small businesses in the greater New Orleans/ Gulf South area since its 2011 launch at Delgado. This number includes over 350 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.
“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.” said Joan Y. Davis, chancellor of Delgado Community College. “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.”
“As we work with business owners we see that the program has a transformational impact on the business owners and their businesses,” said Carla Coury, executive director of the program at Delgado. “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.”
“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. Participation is free to business owners, who are accepted through a competitive application process.
