Small businesses in poor areas of Birmingham can get free help to market, finance and grow through a free Harvard-style education program, but the deadline to apply is June 30.

The program, called Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC), is designed to help small businesses in economically depressed areas achieve sustainable growth and gain access to capital.

ICCC connects business owners with experts ranging from Harvard Business School professors to recognized leaders in marketing, financing and more. ICCC works to help business owners expand their companies, hire more people and serve more customers.

ICCC’s main event in Birmingham will be the executive education seminar for business owners on Aug. 6 for those who apply and are accepted into the program.

Corporate partners help sponsor free program

Small businesses in poor areas of Birmingham can get free help to market, finance and grow through a free Harvard-style education program, but the deadline to apply is June 30.

The free financial education program in Alabama is sponsored by Regions Bank, Alabama Power, the Birmingham Business Alliance and Protective Life.

“ICCC brings an incredible amount of resources directly to small business owners, and it’s important for business owners who are interested to apply now,” said Leroy Abrahams, north central Alabama area president for Regions Bank. “We have seen what ICCC is accomplishing for small businesses in cities across the country, and we want more companies here in Birmingham, and other cities throughout Alabama, to be able to receive this education and achieve their true potential.”

Experts participating in the Birmingham seminar include Harvard Business School Professors Michael Porter and Steven Rogers. It was Porter’s vision that led to the establishment of ICCC in 2005.

Business owners participated in an ICCC executive education seminar sponsored by Regions in Memphis, Tenn. That event’s success prompted Regions to work with the Birmingham Business Alliance and additional sponsors to bring ICCC to Birmingham.

“As inner-city companies become more competitive, we see long-term benefits in terms of job growth and stronger communities,” Porter said. “We are bringing market-based solutions that help support real, tangible progress in urban communities and, in turn, the surrounding region.”

According to ICCC, more than 800 businesses have participated in the program since its inception. Those businesses have raised more than $1 billion in capital and have created about 11,000 jobs in cities across America.

Learned entrepreneurs

“For business owners to truly succeed, they have to be what I call ‘learned entrepreneurs,’” Rogers said. “The key is, for the rest of your life, embrace continuing education. Opportunities such as the one presented by ICCC in Birmingham will connect you with strategies, tactics and insights designed to increase your chances for success.”

The Aug. 6 daylong executive education seminar will be at Regions Field. To apply to attend, business owners must fill out and submit an application via the ICCC website at this link. Companies selected by ICCC are growth-oriented businesses with a significant presence in economically distressed urban areas.

The businesses participating must be headquartered in such areas or at least 40 percent of the company’s employees or 51 percent of the company’s physical operations be in distressed locations. They also must be for-profit corporations, partnerships or proprietorships.

The executive education at ICCC seminars covers topics such as strategy, entrepreneurial finance, debt and equity finance, investor pitch components, valuation methodologies, raising capital, growth through acquisition, negotiation skills for contracts, marketing and talent management.

ICCC is part of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, a nonprofit research and strategy organization founded in 1994 to compile and share information to help support and strengthen urban market opportunities.