Upper Darby prepares to launch small business empowerment hub
Local officials and community members on Feb. 20 will mark the launch of the new Upper Darby Small Business Empowerment Hub with an event at the borough’s municipal building.
But what exactly is a small business empowerment hub?
“If you run a restaurant, you’re amazing at serving food to the people that eat at your restaurant; what you may not know is how to grow that restaurant into two and three and four locations, or to get contracts to be able to serve your food in other locations,” explained Holly Burrow, founder and CEO of EQALL Business Solutions, at a Jan. 21 Upper Darby Township Council meeting.
“So, one of the things we want to be able to do is open up that knowledge base and help the small business owners in the community to gain that for themselves,” said Burrow, whose firm the township hired as a consultant to manage a small-business grant program that is fueled by funding from the federal American Rescue Plan Act.
The township defines small businesses as those with up to 50 employees an annual revenue of up to $500,000, “But most of our businesses in Upper Darby are actually micro-businesses — they are maybe 10 employees, they are maybe family run,” said Rita LaRue, director of community and economic development for the township.
For such businesses, LaRue said, “often what they need is an industrial freezer; they don’t need $100,000 for a major overhaul of the building.” After issuing a request for proposals, Upper Darby settled on EQALL Business Solutions because it had the expertise to provide such resources to small businesses.
To that end, the first steps for the small business empowerment hub will involve putting “boots on the ground” to spread awareness about the hub and build trust in the community to understand what small businesses need, Burrow said.
EQALL Business Solutions will also help the township distribute grant funding for projects like scaling up and building business capacity or doing facade work, Burrow said. “I have a lot of stories about business owners that move into spaces, and what you can afford on day one is maybe not what you know you’re going to need two years down the road,” she said.
Ultimately, Upper Darby hopes its investment in small businesses will lift up the whole community, LaRue said, noting that when neighborhoods are connected to commercial districts, communities are both safer and livelier. “In short, economic development is community development,” she said.
In response to the presentation by LaRue and Burrow, council member Danyelle Blackwell questioned whether the small-business development efforts would take on a one-size-fits-all approach to address a diverse array of business needs.
“Not at all,” replied Burrow, who added that “one of our goals is to make sure that we have resources available in a myriad of different ways, so that businesses all the way from a singular person operating out of their home that needs to be able to reach out and get answers to questions, all the way up to someone that has 15 employees — and everything in between — has different methodologies to be able to meet their needs.”
Burrow also reassured Blackwell that the initiative would aim to attract businesses owned by minorities, women and immigrants. “We were very focused from the beginning to understand exactly how many languages were going to be needed and what the timeline would look like to be able to serve in all the languages that are needed within the community,” Burrow said.
The event celebrating the launch of the Upper Darby Small Business Empowerment Hub will take place at 1 p.m. on Feb. 20 at the township municipal building, located at 100 Garrett Road in Upper Darby.
