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CAMEO in St. Louis

In this week’s Must Know

  • CAMEO at AEO
  • The Goodies: This week’s highlight includes a free webinar – Working Smart: How to Understand Your Profit and Loss Statements to Increase the Bottom Line – hosted by JEDI with Arcata EDC, CAMEO, North Coast SBDC and West Company on May 22 @ 6:00pm.
  • Watch our video CAMEO Connects to illustrate the power of locally-grown small-businesses.

CAMEO at AEO

As is our tradition, the CAMEO membership was out in full force last week’s AEO Conference in St. Louis. The conference started with Marsha Bailey (WEV) and Sharon Miller (Renaissance Center) at a forum that celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Women’s Business Ownership Act and engaged the audience in a great discussion of how women need to ‘think big’ and how we can bring more resources to women entrepreneurs. Claudia participated in a panel with the head of the National Association of Workforce Boards on how to integrate self-employment into the workforce system (and gained a new partner in the process.) Others from the CAMEO family that were on panels include Megan Fielding (Microplace), Jason Friedman (Friedman Associates), Maika Hemphill (Kiva), Dairo Romero (Mission Economic Development Agency) and Eric Weaver (Opportunity Fund.) And of course we had our fun at the CAMEO dinner. It was great to see so many new faces.

Other highlights for me were two inspiring speakers: Will Allen of Growing Power and Daymond John of Shark Tank and FUBU. Will Allen spreads profitable urban food gardens in the inner city of Detroit and around the world. And Daymond went from selling urban style T-shirts in his mom’s basement to his own plush corporate office of a $4 billion company and a leading role on Shark Tank. Both men are engaged in interesting projects that are inspiring entrepreneurs in under-served areas. If you didn’t attend AEO and have the chance to hear them speak – do it – and make sure you check out their projects by visiting their websites.

The Goodies

New opportunities for trainings, conference information, funding, scholarships, and other information that have crossed our desks since the last Must Know: I have posted a running tab of current Goodies on the CAMEO website that lists items that were in past emails. Check it out to make sure you’re not missing anything, like grants whose deadlines are still alive!

Member Kudos: Salam Nalia (CAMEO board member) was profiled in the Fresno Business Journal.

California Economic Forums: They began last month and are taking place all over the state. The goal is to identify local priorities for investing in people, infrastructure and innovation to prepare our state to compete in the 21st century global economy. Please participate if you can and represent our sector. Make sure you identify as a member of CAMEO and spread the message of micro (download the talking points).

Free Webinars: Opportunity Finance Network hosts Scaling Up Microfinance, a series of ten, free technical assistance webinars from now to October 2013. The goal of the CDFI Fund’s Scaling Up Microfinance Capacity Building Initiative is to create jobs, build assets, and reduce poverty by scaling microfinance operations. The next topic is Technology to Improve Performance and Efficiency: on May 21, 2013 at 11:00am PT. Find a full list of topics and webinars as well as registration information.

Free Teleconference: Hear what’s coming for National Small Business Week on June 17-21, 2013 with Fred Baldassaro, the Assistant Adminstrator at the SBA. Register for the call on May 23 at 11:00am PT sponsored by Small Business Majority and CAMEO.

Free Webinar: (for your clients) – Inspired Marketing: How to Creatively and Consistently Communicate to Your Ideal Customers: Understand the benefits to sending consistent messages to your potential clients; design a compelling mission statement; illustrate and demonstrate your business value; and integrate your messaging into your marketing plan. Join Joy Taylor and JEDI on Tuesday, May 28, 2013 from 6:00-7:15pm. Learn more and register. This webinar is presented by JEDI in collaboration with Arcata EDC, CAMEO, North Coast SBDC and West Company.

Free Teleconference: The last Wednesday of each month, a representative from the White House holds Chamber Chatter with The White House to talk about what’s being done at the federal level for small business. The next one is on May 29 at 11:00am PT. Register for the call sponsored by Small Business Majority and CAMEO..

Grant Opportunity – (for your client): The EILEEN FISHER grant program seeks applicants from wholly women-owned businesses that combine the principles of social consciousness, sustainability, and innovation to create new businesses or invigorate existing ones. Deadline is May 31st, 2013.

Public Banking Conference 2013: Funding the New Economy will take place in San Rafael, California on June 2-4. They will explore one of the core foundations of successful economies around the world: a distributed network of public banks that operate in the public interest of each respective community. It starts off with a Conversation among Matt Taibbi (Rolling Stone magazine), Birgitta Jonsdottir (Member of Icelandic Parliament), Ellen Brown (author of Web of Debt), and Gar Alperovitz.

Free Webinar: (for your clients) – Working Smart: How to Understand Your Profit and Loss Statements to Increase the Bottom Line. Numbers tell stories when you know how to read them. In order to be sustainable and thrive, smart entrepreneurs turn to their financial statements to make empowered decisions. Questions to be answered:

  • How does understanding my financial statement help me?
  • What are some of the ABC’s so I can talk to my accountant and banker more easily?
  • What are some new ways for me to improve my profits that I can recognize through Profit and Loss (P&L) analysis?
  • How does P&L assessment help me grow?

Join Susan Brown and JEDI on Wednesday, May 22, 2013 Monday, June 10, from 6:00-7:15pm. Learn more and register. This webinar is presented by JEDI in collaboration with Arcata EDC, CAMEO, North Coast SBDC and West Company.

Refugee Microenterprise Development Grant: The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) has announced the availability of funds for the Refugee Microenterprise Development Project. ORR has supported microenterprise development projects since 1991 through the award of discretionary grants to a variety of public agencies, community economic development agencies, local mutual assistance associations, and voluntary agencies. Non-profits qualify. Applications are due June 10, 2013.

2013 Small Business Finance Forum: OFN hosts a CDFI conference focused on the small business sector on June 11-12, 2013 in Detroit, Michigan. Remember CAMEO can offset some of the costs for this and other conferences. Contact Shufina English for more information.