Convenience and access. That's why consumers are attracted to shopping centers with multiple offerings. And that's why the Chamber joined with other organizations to formally establish the Knoxville Area Chamber Partnership in 1998.

The Knoxville Area Chamber Partnership is the umbrella affiliation of seven independent, business-service organizations. The participating organizations all are focused on helping businesses in the Knoxville area grow, succeed, and provide more jobs and an ever-increasing standard of living. The Partnership can also be thought of as the building on Market Square where all these organizations are housed, and therefore as the “one-stop shop” for business. The Knoxville Chamber is one of the partner organizations.

For over a decade, the Knoxville Area Chamber Partnership has offered multiple business options similar to the accessibility consumers find at large retail “super” centers.

“The Knoxville Chamber is highly invested in the success of businesses in our region,” says Mike Edwards, Chamber president and CEO. “We believe our relationships with the other organizations in the Partnership offer our members access to even more resources they can use to succeed.”

In addition to the Chamber, the organizations in the Partnership are the Central Business Improvement District, The Development Corporation of Knox County, the East Tennessee Television and Film Commission, the Tennessee Small Business Development Center, the Knoxville office of the U.S. Export Assistance Center, and the Hispanic Chamber of East Tennessee. All these organizations share space with the Chamber, and Chamber members have unlimited access to the information and the resources each partner organization provides.

Let’s take a closer look at these organizations – what they do and how you as a Chamber member can benefit from their services.

Increasing the Bottom Line

TSBDC Expands Course Access Options

Each Chamber member has access to the Tennessee Small Business Development Center (TSBDC). TSBDC offices opened throughout the state in 1986 after Congress realized small businesses across the country could benefit from consulting services aimed at assisting with business growth. It offers assistance to small business owners who wish to grow and develop successful, thriving businesses. TSBDC has twelve full-service centers and two satellite offices across the state of Tennessee. The United States Small Business Administration, Pellissippi State Technical Community College, and Roane State Technical Community College fund the Knoxville branch.

“We were created at the time economic development began to shift from large businesses to small businesses,” says Larry Rossini, director of Knoxville’s TSBDC office. “Instead of the Chamber creating its own division to help small businesses, it partnered with us because we were already designed to help small businesses.”

Since the beginning of its relationship with the Chamber in 1992, the program has assisted new businesses with proper development of their business right from the start.

“We have helped many small businesses start their business,” Rossini says.

The Center conducts one-on-one counseling sessions for pre-venture businesses and existing businesses that need assistance with business problems. The Center also provides training in a classroom environment. Among some of the classes it teaches are How To Start a Business, How To Write a Business Plan, and IRS Tax Workshop. The Center also provides government procurement workshops, gives marketing seminars, and teaches a series of classes known as The Strategic Management Learning System. In 2007, TSBDC helped nearly 500 clients acquire close to $14 million in capital. Sales for these businesses have increased over $6 million. Thirty new businesses were launched, creating 203 new jobs during this time.

The TSBDC’s Knoxville office began offering online courses in spring 2008. Nearly 50 people have either completed or registered for the Center’s online classes, which include How to Start a Business, Small and Minority Owned Business Loans, SBA Community Express Loans, and How To Write a Business Plan. Sixteen people registered for or completed a total of 23 online courses in May 2008 alone.

“These online classes are valuable to people who can’t easily come to classes in person, and find it more convenient to take the courses online,” Rossini says.

Rossini also says that these online classes are reaching clients that would have fallen through the cracks otherwise. The demand for in-person classes has not decreased, the online classes are simply reaching people that would not, or could not, adjust their schedules to attend classes during the Center’s regular business hours.

The online classes developed by TSBDC-Knoxville have been made available to all small business centers throughout the state of Tennessee. So the benefits will reach businesspeople across the state.

“I am convinced these online courses will be of substantial benefit and convenience to clients and trainees of this office,” says Vicki Henley, TSBDC-Cookeville Director.

The Cookeville Center recently received a grant award from USDA/Rural Development to increase training opportunities for the predominantly rural area served by its office. A portion of the grant will be used to locate computer workstations capable of accessing the Knoxville-TSBDC’s online seminars.

Clarksville’s TSBDC office recently conducted an online How To Start a Business seminar. Ninety-three percent of attendees said the course matched or exceeded their expectations. The same number reported the class helped them generate ideas to improve their business or helped them with business planning. What’s more, the majority of enrollees said access to internet instructions, navigation through the instructions, and online navigation through the seminar was “excellent.”

A relatively new benefit provided by TSBDC is confidential online counseling. In addition to one-on-one, in-person, business counseling, TSBDC is now capable of counseling small businesses via the internet and regularly consultants conduct videoconferencing with clients.

“Existing internet software allows us to consult with our clients that enjoy the convenience of online connectivity,” says Rossini. TSBDC counselors prefer to perform online counseling sessions with clients previously met in-person.

“Sharing confidential information is sometimes required,” Rossini says. “We want to develop trustworthy relationships with our clients and feel this can be accomplished by getting to know our clients face-to-face prior to online counseling.”

TSBDC offers its free, confidential, live, online counseling by appointment Monday through Friday 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM.

“The beauty of online counseling is the accessibility,” says Rossini. “The majority of small businesspeople can’t sacrifice two or three hours of their day traveling to and traveling from counseling sessions. The rising cost of gasoline is also a factor in accessibility.”

One-on-one counseling, is still available at the Knoxville Chamber, the Blount County Chamber of Commerce, the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce, and the Farragut West Knox Chamber of Commerce. If more than one counseling session is required, meetings can be a combination of person-to-person and internet sessions.

Beginning July 21st, 2008, anyone registered for the How To Write a Business Plan seminar may attend the course in person, attend the course live via the internet, or watch previously recorded classes. For a small fee ($40), the TSBDC’s How To Write a Business Plan class is offered to pre-venture businesses and existing businesses. All registered participants of the How To Write a Business Plan course receive passwords that allow unlimited, anytime access. Registration information can be found by visiting www.knoxvillesbdc.org.

Registration information can also be obtained by calling 865-246-2663, or by emailing Jane Shelton at jshelton@tsbdc.org.

For their efforts in spearheading internet accessibility for their clients, Rossini, Joe Andrews and Bruce Hayes, TSBDC-Knoxville senior business specialists, Jane Shelton, secretary, and Jutta Bangs, Roane State Community College affiliate office senior business specialist, were awarded the 2008 Service, Excellence, and Innovation Award by the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Tennessee district office in Nashville.

“The TSBDC-Knoxville office received the award because of the excellent services they provide to small businesses in the Knoxville area,” said W. Clinton Smith, SBA district director. “The staff has been particularly creative in devising new ways to deliver training to people in remote areas who may not have individual access to more traditional learning applications.”

“With travel time and costs becoming more critical for businesses, people are changing their communication habits,” said Rossini. “The inception of our online courses and online counseling, via the internet, are perfect companions to the changing landscape of communication.”

The TSBDC will continue to update its online courses and online counseling opportunities in the months to come. It is also planning to introduce a comprehensive tool to help businessespeople run their businesses rather than having the business run them.

A list of TSBDC offices in Tennessee can be found by visiting www.tsbdc.org.

For more information about the TSBDC, call Jane Shelton: 865-246-2663 or email her: jshelton@tsbdc.org.

Business Incubator

TDC Helps Foster Innovators and Supports Business Growth, Relocation

One of the many roles of The Development Corporation of Knox County (TDC) is to assist in the cultivation of young, start-up technology companies in the Innovation Valley. Any Chamber member interested in growing and staying in the region has access to Knox County’s Fairview Technology Center. TDC, a Chamber partner since 1997, is responsible for management of the Center.
“Fairview Technology Center is a technology business incubator,” says Todd Napier, TDC Executive Vice President.

Fairview houses offices and lab space for start-up technology companies in the area. A renovated elementary school in Solway has been developed into a viable facility where businesses can operate affordably. Chamber members, and recent Pinnacle Business Award winners, Protein Discovery, Inc. and Nucsafe, Inc. formerly housed their labs and offices at Fairview before relocating offices to downtown Knoxville and to Oak Ridge, respectively.

TDC also manages Knox County’s Manufacturing Skills program and its Industrial Skills program available to each member of the Chamber and to businesses in Knox County. The manufacturing skills program helps train employees so that the employeesbecome more valuable to their employers and those skill sets stay with the employee even if their employer decides to leave the region. The industrial skills program provides scholarship money to those who wish to receive training within specific technical skill areas at institutions of higher learning.

In addition to managing Fairview Technology Center and the county’s skills programs, TDC serves as a management services organization for the Industrial Development Boards (IDBs) of Knoxville and Knox County. The IDBs administer Pay In Lieu of Tax and Tax Increment Financing programs to incentivize business location or expansion or to encourage the development of blighted property.

The Development Corporation also manages the county’s industrial and business parks. These properties are prepared for businesses interested in locating or expanding in Knox County. When a business is ready to open a new facility, it often doesn’t have the ability to wait for a site to be prepared.

Napier believes in stocking the shelves.

“You can’t sell groceries from an empty shelf.” “Pre-internet, site consultants working for companies looking to relocate or expand businesses to Knox County would go through quite a bit more ground work than they do today,” says Napier. “Companies are now beginning to eliminate communities and regions based on the information they retrieve via the internet.”

TDC is responsible for stocking the shelves. One of its focuses is the development of land in Knox County.

“You can say: ‘build it and they will come,’” says Napier. “But it would be more accurate to say: ‘if you never build it, they’ll never come.’ Similar to an empty grocery shelf, if you don’t have the inventory; you can’t expect any customers.”

TDC’s inventory is advertised through the Chamber’s database, through the Tennessee Valley Authority’s database, and through the state of Tennessee’s database. All property is development-ready with completed roadways, water lines, and sewer lines. The availability of inventory helps increase economic development for business in the Innovation Valley and it helps increase economic development for members of the Knoxville Chamber.

TDC has approximately 315 acres currently available and listed online. The newest business park is Hardin Business Park in West Knox County. TDC’s intent has been to create a location and opportunity that will help attract businesses that pay above-average wages to the area. TDC is selling this property’s location as an extremely viable investment opportunity.

“Hardin Business Park’s proximity to the airport, to the interstate, to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and to the University of Tennessee is excellent,” Napier notes. “I see the Hardin Business Park housing unique, technology-focused companies.”

Downtown Mission

CBID has Central Focus

Protein Discovery, Inc.’s move to Gay Street is an example of the kind of work done by the Central Business Improvement District (CBID). “Protein Discovery was moving out of its incubator with hopes of relocating to the downtown area,” says Michele Hummel, CBID Director. “We helped the company find an appropriate location with an adequate amount of space.”

One of the CBID’s many goals is to assist small businesses that have been working with the Chamber, TDC and the TSBDC and are interested in relocating to downtown Knoxville.

The partner’s mission is to make downtown Knoxville a better place in which to live, work, and play. The CBID has four areas of focus: economic development, marketing and events, security, and parking and transportation. It often helps developers find potential buildings that they then develop into residential property.

“We help the Chamber when prospective new businesses come to visit the area,” says Hummel. “We supply a list of properties available for each potential prospect.”

The CBID also focuses on showcasing what downtown Knoxville has to offer. The Rossini Festival, the Dogwood Arts Festival, the Sundown In The City concert series, and the weekly Farmer’s Market, that is held each Wednesday and Saturday, are just a few examples of events that are frequently held downtown.

“I think events are a big part of the revitalization of downtown because the people who attend these events subsequently see what we’re doing to renovate the downtown area,” Hummel says. “It’s hard not to find something going on downtown every week because there are so many great events and festivals taking place in the area.”

In addition to business relocation and event planning, the CBID works to increase residential occupancy in the area. It’s succeeding. Compared to two years ago, 40 percent more people now live downtown.

“When I first moved downtown in 1999, the streets were empty after six p.m.,” remembers Hummel. “You could roll a bowling ball down Gay Street and not hit anybody. But now it’s become a great, strongly-knit community.”

Downtown residents help themselves by helping the CBID. Funding for the CBID comes from those who own property in the downtown district. As property owners pay their property tax to the city, they also pay a special assessment that goes to the CBID. Currently, the CBID is using this support to continue the retail-revitalization on Gay Street.

“We have an increasingly large amount of visitors making their way downtown,” Hummel says. “The challenge is increasing the number of retail destinations to satisfy the increasing number of visitors. We’re looking at more restaurants and more specialty stores that will allow us to reach the untapped spending dollars. I want people to come downtown and have a good experience. I believe a healthy downtown adds to the quality of life for our city.”

Hummel is right. Experts regularly point out the importance of a strong downtown to the overall economic health of a community.

International Appeal

U.S. Export Assistance Center Helps Chamber Members Achieve Overseas Potential

How do members of the Chamber and members of the Knoxville business community find assistance if they want to reach 95 percent of the world’s business customers? They give the Knoxville-U.S. Export Assistance Center (KUSEAC), part of the United States Department of Commerce (USDOC), a call.

“We assist local manufacturers to overcome any export-related challenge,” says Rob Leach, KUSEA Director. “I help local manufacturers that want to tap into international markets by helping them find distributors across the globe.”

The KUSEAC is one of 100 similar offices around the country. It has partnered with the Chamber since 1990 and offers its services free of charge through U.S. Department of Commerce funding.

One of the biggest challenges U.S. manufacturers have is establishing competent international sales channels. Leach says the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers fluctuates on major international economic concerns. U.S. manufacturers that are connected to many markets, domestic and international, are going to fare better than those that are only in two or three markets.

“If your company wants to fish where the fish are, then you need to sell to overseas markets,” he says. “It’s amazing when I speak with manufacturers in the area and I find out how much of their sales are international. The average is about 10 to 15 percent, however, many companies can achieve 50 percent, 60 percent or even 70 percent in international sales.”

Even though it is not easily recognizable, this region is dependent on international markets for jobs and household incomes. The majority of a local factory’s production could end up across the ocean but all that is seen is a loaded tractor-trailer headed down the interstate.

One of the ways Leach helps local manufacturers tap into overseas markets is by offering research. Currently, he’s working with a company that is already in a few international markets but wants to expand. The company came to him to ask which new markets it should attempt first. Leach is researching the options.

“A medical company may come to us and say, ‘We want to get into Brazil. What’s the major medical show in Brazil?’” says Leach. “We’ll do the research, identify the tradeshow, and we’ll even make sure they have booth space available at that show. We also qualify, vet and arrange appointments with qualified international distributors for our U.S. companies through the U.S. embassy network. We will also let these companies know what Brazilian regulations affect their business.”

The USDOC has 100 offices in more than 80 countries around the world, including the increasingly industrialized country of China. The KUSEAC recently held a seminar to educate this region’s business community about how to achieve greater success in that specific, and unique market.

“China is a difficult market with a large learning curve,” said Leach. “There is also a lot of intellectual property infringement so we brought in two speakers to talk to local business community members about what local companies can do to protect themselves and how local companies can take advantage of the market in a safe manner.”

The seminar also helped address the synergy between the Innovation Valley and the Chinese market.

“One example to the synergy is the fact China will bring 30 new nuclear reactors online in the next several years,” Leach said. “There are several companies in East Tennessee that have experience manufacturing the equipment needed for nuclear reactors.” Leach added nuclear energy was just one sector that the Innovation Valley has in common with China’s needs.

Currently, exports are the largest single factor in growth of the U.S. Economy. In Tennessee, exports have grown year after year for the past four years. Compared to 2007, exports in 2008 are already up 7.6 percent. The Knoxville MSA’s exports are growing too. In 2006, the region totaled more than $2 billion in exports. The state of Tennessee’s top overseas markets were Mexico, Canada, China, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, Holland, Australia, South Korea, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.

The KUSEAC also helps local businesses find financing for overseas projects through the Small Business Administration and through the Export-Import Bank of The United States (www.exim.gov). Working capital financing and export financing are two viable options for businesses looking to get into international markets or for businesses wanting to expand business in international markets.

Leach has extensive experience in overseas business markets. He has been employed by the USDOC for eight years. He previously worked for Dun & Bradstreet, a global commercial database firm. Leach lived and worked in Taiwan for almost nine years and speaks fluent Mandarin. For more information about the KUSEAC, call Rob Leach, 865-637-4550, or visit the KUSEAC website: www.buyusa.gov/tennessee.

Hispanic Flavor

Chamber Members Reaching New Customers Through HCCET Partnership

The goal of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of East Tennessee (HCCET) is to advocate, facilitate and assist Hispanic entrepreneurs so that they may establish or grow businesses in East Tennessee. HCCET strives to support existing Hispanic businesses and connect the local business community with new Hispanic businesses and with the Hispanic population.

“Our goals are to work with the Hispanic community by offering workshops that detail business related matters,” says Luis Velazquez, HCCET Director. “We also aim to provide networking events in which Hispanics and non-Hispanics attend together.”

New members of the Knoxville can establish membership in both the Knoxville Chamber and the HCCET for one enrollment price. Upon request, the Knoxville Chamber will pay the first year dues of $75to HCCET. The Knoxville News Sentinel enjoys dual-memberships and recognizes the value of the HCCET membership.

“There’s a steady stream of new businesses and consumers moving into our community every day,” says Bruce Hartmann, president and publisher of the News Sentinel. “Together, the Knoxville Chamber and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of East Tennessee provide valuable opportunities for members to network and learn from one another, which supports growth in both established and emerging markets.”

“As a result of the inter-chamber agreement, we have obtained a large number of members in the Hispanic chamber,” Velazquez says.

The HCCET has partnered with the Knoxville Chamber since April of 2005. AT&T, The Real Yellow Pages, SunTrust, the U.S. Department of Energy, and First Tennessee Bank are HCCET affiliation partners. Designsensory hosts and maintains the Hispanic Chamber of East Tennessee’s website.

The HCCET, in conjunction with Mirror Sales Inc., publishes Encuentros, every other month. This newsletter is designed to update members of the Hispanic business community about events and news in the region. Velazquez co-founded the Hispanic Chamber after retiring from 20 years of service with the Civil Energy Department of the U.S. Government. Forty-five new members joined the HCCET in 2007. Over 150 businesses in East Tennessee are now enrolled.

“We are here to help Hispanic business find their place in this region,” Velazquez says. “We want to help these businesses find a suitable fit in this region.”

And…. Action!

ETTFC Responsible for Recruiting New Business and Industry to Innovation Valley

The East Tennessee Television and Film Commission (ETTFC) is charged with recruiting new production projects to Knox County and with supporting the thriving existing production community. It has partnered with the Knoxville Chamber since 2000.

“Right now we have 47 production companies in the area,” says Thomas Duncan, ETTFC location assistant. “This number didn’t happen by accident.”

Scripps Networks, RIVR Media, Jupiter Entertainment, North South Productions and Double Jay Creative are just a few examples of Knoxville’s large production family. The ETTFC focuses on providing economic support so that this type of production capacity continues to flourish in this region.
The ETTFC just held a wildly popular Television and Film Trade Show. Over 500 people attended the daylong event that featured a sold out web-producing seminar presented by Peter Clem, VP, Interactive Video Programming & Production at Scripps Networks.

“We found out that there is a latent demand for access to our industry’s latest innovations,” Duncan said.

All vendors were pleased with the turnout and said they expect to return for the next ETTFC tradeshow.

“I walked through the vendor-floor at one point and each booth was full of people learning the latest editions of software,” noted Duncan. “There were people experimenting with the latest cameras, there were people tilting tripods, others were getting a feel for new lighting equipment, and some were working with the new microphones on the market. It was phenomenal to see that interaction and enthusiasm.”

ETTFC assists Chamber members and the Knoxville business community with production-related matters. The Commission also works closely with the Chamber’s economic development department when companies in the television and film industry look to expand or relocate their businesses.

In addition to serving Knox County, ETTFC has established relationships with Roane County and Oak Ridge. Projects in these – and other – surrounding communities employ talent and production personnel in Knox County. Large projects also use catering and lodging facilities in the county. In 2006-2007, ETTFC’s efforts helped generate $2.2 million of economic activity. ETTFC recruited 18 productions to the region, which resulted in 319 nights of hotel accommodations with 389 local people hired for various projects throughout the year. That type of activity obviously supports all businesses in the region and brings additional capital and business investment into the Innovation Valley.

Conclusion

As detailed above, the Partnership can be, and is, the “one-stop-shop” Chamber members in the Innovation Valley come to for assistance. Throughout the decade long partnership, members of the Knoxville business community have enjoyed multiple, valuable, resources that have nurtured small businesses and afforded large businesses greater avenues of success. The Partnership continues to support the commerce, the transportation and the industry that have long been vital parts of Knoxville’s history. The economic growth of the region continues to rely on these partnerships, especially with an ever-changing economic landscape. The Chamber’s mission has always been to unite business, industry, service and professionals in the pursuit of economic success.

For more information about the Knoxville Area Chamber Partnership, contact the Chamber at 865-637-4550.