E-Commerce and Internet training program could benefit 20,000 area small businesses

Posted 2/28/01

E-Commerce and Internet training program could benefit 20,000 area small businesses

ìAccess Minnesota Main Street,î an e-commerce training program designed specifically for small businesses by the University of Minnesota Extension Service, announced today a new partnership with AT&T and Minnesota Rural Partners.

The E-Commerce Training Corps initiative will provide e-commerce and internet training to 20,000 small Minnesota businesses in greater Minnesota using 100 trainers who will be recruited from throughout the state.

ìAccess Minnesota Main Street is a hands-on, real-life training that teaches small business owners how to develop an e-commerce program to strengthen their operations and market their goods and services,î explained Chuck Casey, Dean and Director of Extension.

ìOur objective is to equip 20,000 small businesses in greater Minnesota with the know-how so they can compete and prosper in the digital economy,î Casey said.

Extension, working with AT&T and Minnesota Rural Partners, has launched a major initiative to deliver the e-commerce training curriculum to at least 20,000 of those very small businesses in greater Minnesota.

A $25,000 grant from AT&T has provided the funding to jump-start the effort. Extension and Minnesota Rural Partners will use the AT&T grant to build an E-Commerce Training Corps of 100 people.
The corps trainers will be trained on the Access Minnesota Main Street curriculum.

Those 100 trainers, in turn, will deliver the curriculum to small business owners through hundreds of classes in communities all across the state.

AT&Tís Teresa Lynch added, ìBusinesses of all sizes need to use the Internet and participate in e-commerce.î

The opportunity is immense ó the world is the potential market for the goods and services produced by Minnesota businesses.

Even Minnesota's smallest businesses can sell across the globe. To take advantage of the opportunity, businesses need to reach customers around the world.î

One example of a small Minnesota company that has already benefited from Extensionís e-commerce training is LARK Toys, a small business in Kellogg, Minnesota that makes wooden toys.

After taking the course, owners Donn and Sarah Kreofsky used what they learned to completely revise their website, adding several new features.

Soon after that, they received a call from Disney Studios who discovered them through their LARK Toys website, and Disney subsequently contracted with the Kreofskyís to build all the wooden toys needed for the Disney movie, Geppetto.

LARK Toys is one of about 600 very small businesses in greater Minnesota that have taken the Access Minnesota Main Street course.

While Extension is proud of its success to date, it recognizes it has reached 1% of the 54,000 very small businesses in greater Minnesota.

Knowledge on how to participate in e-commerce is critical for Minnesota's small businesses to remain competitive in a digital economy.

As much as 86% of all businesses in Minnesota are classified as ìvery small businessesî that have fewer than 20 employees.

In rural Minnesota, there are an estimated 54,000 such businesses operating.

ìWe know that whatís good for small businesses in Minnesota will be good for Minnesotaís economy,î said Marcie McLaughlin, executive director of the non-profit organization Minnesota Rural Partners.
ìThose small businesses are our stateís bread and butter. By helping them capitalize on the digital economy, we can build a more diverse, stronger economy in greater Minnesota and the entire state,î McLaughlin said.

Recruitment for the 100 corps trainers is underway. Their training will begin in April.

For more information, contact Jane Leonard, coordinator of the e-commerce training corps, at (612) 625-8233.