Bed-Stuy Gateway and the Fulton-Nostrand Revitalization Project

Free Customer Service Workshop for Small Businesses

Restoration Information and Technology Education (RITE) Center

FREE Customer Service Workshop for Small Businesses

Part 1: Wednesday, October 25, 2006: 9:30am-12:30pm.

Part 2: Wednesday, November 1, 2006, 9:30am-12:30pm.

The 2006 holiday shopping season is right around the corner: are you and your staff prepared to welcome your customers? Are you interested in improving your customer relationships? All Bedford-Stuyvesant business owners and their staff are cordially invited to attend the Customer Service Training Workshop presented by the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation’s RITE Center. This two-part workshop will consist of a comprehensive program that provides a strong foundation of skills and knowledge to succeed in the retail business industry. 

Topics to be discussed:

• Role of the Small business in a community
• Art of finessing customer relationships
• Winning your customers’ loyalty

To attend, please RSVP to bmitchell@restorationplaza.org and indicate your name, your business and address, and how many people will be attending from your establishment.

The RITE Center is Central Brooklyn’s only comprehensive technology and skills education center accessible to the whole community. It provides technology access and classes to develop the local workforce, support educational goals, help small business owners, and cultivate life skills. For more information on the many services offered by the RITE Center for the Central Brooklyn community, please visit www.restorationplaza.org or call (718)636-6985.

Nurturing Home Producers to Run Retail Shops - New York Times

Angela Jimenez for The New York Times

Incubator for business Selma Jackson, left, manager of 4W Circle of Art and Enterprise in Brooklyn, with Cae Byng, whose company is J & L Handmade Soap.

Opening a small business is no trivial feat. 4W Circle of Art and Enterprise, a 15-year-old incubator for retail shops that describes its mission as "providing home-based African-American entrepreneurs, especially women, the opportunity to realize the dream of establishing their own retail stores" shows shows one way budding entrepreneurs can get a taste of running and operating a small business prior to actually opening in a single storefront. 4W Circle of Art and Enterprise is located on Fulton Street in Fort Greene.

Link: Nurturing Home Producers to Run Retail Shops - New York Times.

Need a low-cost small business loan? Try the Restoration Capital Fund.

Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation’s Restoration Capital Fund is available to any small business entrepreneur with a business enterprise based in the borough of Brooklyn, NY. These low-interest loans, available either for working capital or fixed assets, provide an low-cost source of financing for small business entrepreneurs who are unable to obtain or do not yet qualify for financing from traditional financial institutions, or who need an additional loan to bridge a funding gap.

Conditions for Elibility

New York State Residents.

Business must be independently owned and based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn.

Business must have a reasonable probability of repaying the loan and have the capacity to create jobs.

Applicants are required to present a business plan at application, or must prepare a plan prior to consideration for a loan.

Loan Terms

Working capital maximum loan amount of $35,000 for a 3-year term

Fixed asset maximum loan amount of $50,000 limited to the useful life of the property and/or equipment, term not to exceed 5 years

Loans require collateralization

2% administrative fee at closing

Interest rate is currently set at the Prime interest rate +2% on the day of loan closing and fixed for the life of the loan.

For more information about Restoration’s Restoration Capital Fund, contact Ms. Bernice McRae at (718) 636-6924 or bmcrae@restorationplaza.org