Leaders, including County Judge KP George, rolled out a new program Thursday to help provide local business owners with free recovery services.
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It's called the Fort Bend Entrepreneur Initiative.
Under this program, which has a special focus on helping minority and disadvantaged owners, businesses can get one on one coaching from local and national consultants, participate in business resilience courses, get help creating a customized COVID-19 business recovery program, and six months' access to an online business consulting program. Services are available in Spanish as well.
The county has partnered with Carter Brothers Consulting, LLP for the initiative, which you can apply for at this website.
"In Fort Bend County, we care about small businesses, and we care about their success because they put their life savings into their business, and they hire people and pay taxes, and they keep our economy rolling," George said.
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Leaders also took time during the briefing to remind small business owners that money is still available under the county's Small Business Emergency Assistance Grant Program.
Companies can apply to receive up to $25,000 to go toward personal protective equipment (PPE), inventory, payroll to bring employees back to work and remote working expenses.
This is the breakdown of the grant amounts based on 2019 annual gross revenue:
- Small Businesses with annual sales from $25,000 to $100,000 - Grant up to $5,000
- Small Businesses with annual sales from $100,001 to $2,000,000 - Grant up to $15,000
- Small Businesses with annual sales from $2,000,001 to $5,000,000 - Grant up to $25,000
Grants are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis until the money is gone.