If you have been thinking about starting or expanding a business venture, the next Mountain BizWorks FARE of the Carolinas Foundations course begins March 4.

This session leads clients through an eight-week business planning course that helps entrepreneurs evaluate and estimate start-up and overhead costs, determine profit goals, project cash flow, develop marketing plans, and learn about necessary licensing and record keeping.  Additional material is provided for those in agricultural enterprises.

Mountain BizWorks’ FARE of the Carolinas supports the development of rural economies by placing an emphasis on resources that rural enterprises need to succeed. FARE helps rural entrepreneurs capture a deeper understanding of the communication and network infrastructures that define rural entrepreneurship. Business trainings are conducted in a peer group environment, a “safe” place to brainstorm through a variety of business ideas and grow and learn from participant feedback. Since agriculture has been and remains one of the biggest industries in North Carolina, all food, agricultural and rural enterprises are encouraged to attend.

Under the umbrella of rural enterprises, an assortment of business ventures exist in each community: food, agriculture, value added products, hardware stores, independent grocery stores, restaurants, small engine repair and hundreds of other businesses make important contributions to businesses that uniquely define each rural community. At the core, agriculture plays an important role in rural economic development; it binds communities together in agreement, to the land and to the cultural heritage.