Small business success

Orange County SCORE named Chapter of the Year

SCORE, a free mentoring service for small businesses, named Orange County, Calif., its Chapter of the Year during National Small Business Week 2014, May 12–16, in recognition of the chapter’s commitment to innovative and outstanding service in assisting entrepreneurs to start and grow their enterprises in Fiscal Year 2013.

More than 320 SCORE chapters exist across the United States, with more than 11,000 business experts volunteering as mentors. Each year, SCORE provides small business mentoring, workshops and education to more than 375,000 new and growing small businesses. Orange County serves the highest number of clients, and has now won this award four times. Their 2013 successes include the creation of 1,615 jobs within 287 new businesses, a 17 percent increase in total services, a 14 percent increase in workshop attendance, and a total revenue growth of clients of $130,000,000. These results were achieved through best practices that included:

• Evening workshop sessions and new workshop topics such as social media marketing.
• The creation of an advisory board and CEO forum programs.
• Working with the military through the TAPS/Boots to Business program.
• Focusing on women by sponsoring Women in Business breakfasts and hosting conferences for women business owners.
• Working closely with the Chambers of Commerce and city government.

Source: SCORE