'Business First Stop Ohio' Web Site Debuts in Athens

Contact: George Mauzy, media specialist, (740) 597-1794

ATHENS, Ohio (January 10, 2001) -- Business First Stop Ohio, a new interactive business assistance Web site for Appalachian entrepreneurs, was formally introduced at the Appalachian Regional Entrepreneurship Initiative (AREI) kickoff on Wednesday evening at the Baker University Center Ballroom.

Business First Stop Ohio, designed by AREI at Ohio University's Voinovich Center for Leadership and Public Affairs, will offer business management diagnostic tools, county-specific information and client/consultant interaction through online software. Business owners will be able to obtain assistance with a wide variety of tasks, such as finding an accountant or designing and implementing a business plan. The Business First Stop Ohio Web site can be accessed at www.bizfirststop.com

Business First Stop Ohio is an important part of AREI's goal of being a technical assistance "one-stop shop" for regional entrepreneurs. AREI is an integrated technical assistance program created and administered by the Voinovich Center to help build a technology-based entrepreneurial economy for Appalachia Ohio. Besides serving as a technical assistance center, AREI will help businesses acquire venture capital funding, as well as provide e-commerce and Web site training to regional economic developmental organizations so they can assist local businesses.

"The new economy has been fast growing small businesses called "gazelles," which have created the majority of new jobs and innovations over the past 10 years," said Hugh Sherman, assistant director of the Voinovich Center. "But Appalachia Ohio is not participating in this economic boom -- we are not generating our share of these new businesses. Business First Stop Ohio and AREI are part of an integrated economic development strategy that will provide gazelles with sophisticated business technical assistance and assistance in obtaining finances."

The first annual MBA Regional Consulting Contest also was announced during the kickoff. The contest involves 15 teams of MBA students assigned to serve as marketing, business and operational strategy consultants to small businesses in Appalachia. The consulting projects will provide students with real-world business experience while helping regional companies operate more efficiently. In March, a panel of judges will select the winning teams, which will be rewarded with cash prizes.

Speakers at the kickoff included Ohio University President Robert Glidden; Joy Padgett, director of the governor's Office of Appalachia; and Hugh Sherman.

For more information, contact Sherman at (740) 593-9415 or shermanh@ohio.edu