Gallagher Graduates from Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Intensive Entrepreneurship Training at Babson College
National program helps entrepreneurs create jobs and economic opportunity
Madison, WI – Laura Gallagher, Wisconsin Trailblazer, Founder and CEO of The Creative Company, and Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Regional Ambassador joined one hundred and forty-five entrepreneurs when she received a Certificate in Entrepreneurship from Babson College and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses in May, 2017.
Her cohort of one hundred and forty-five entrepreneurs represented 38 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The small businesses in the national group at Babson represent a total of $174M in revenues and over 3,000 jobs from a broad range of industries including manufacturing, construction, retail, services, and non-profit organizations. The graduates join over 850 businesses that have successfully completed the Babson cohort and over 8,000 businesses served through the 10,000 Small Businesses program across all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the UK.
The #10KSB initiative is a national program created to help entrepreneurs create jobs and economic opportunity by providing greater access to education, capital, and business support services.
“We’re proud of our graduates of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Initiative. These entrepreneurs put forth incredible effort to complete this program and we are confident their efforts will continue in growing their businesses. We are excited to watch their many successes,” said Kerry Healey, President of Babson College.
Babson has been partnering with Goldman Sachs and others on the 10,000 Small Businesses program since 2010, and has helped train over 250 faculty and staff who deliver the program primarily at community colleges throughout the United States, as well as through the national blended learning program at Babson College. Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses is an investment to help entrepreneurs create jobs and economic opportunity by providing access to education, capital and business support services.
For 11 weeks since February, these small business owners connected with peers and worked together through practical business education delivered through a blend of online and in-person sessions.
“I applied in November of 2016, went through three interview rounds and accepted the full scholarship – as well as the challenge – in January of 2017. The program is as rigorous as they say it is. The expectations are high. But, you are alongside your comrades in business,” said Gallagher. “The average age in our group was 47 years old. I’m 49. In my growth group of 8, we represented technology, construction, science and manufacturing. Everything at Babson is by design. I had a coach, a growth group (8), a section (39 people), a cohort (146) and I’m now part of a national network of business owners who have also been trained on the growth strategies as well as business fundamentals. This was an all hands on deck experience. I am grateful to Goldman Sachs, my professors at Babson, my peers and the incredible support I received from my team at The Creative Company. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn and grow.”
“The program is designed to be highly participative and immediately impactful, emphasizing peer-to-peer and experiential learning focused on their specific business,” said Babson Professor Richard T. Bliss, National Academic Director of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses. “These business owners represent the best of the U.S. economy, and this program helps them grow their businesses, create new jobs, and strengthen our communities. Nearly 70% of participants increase revenues and 50% create new jobs just six months after graduating.”
10,000 Small Businesses offers qualified business owners:
- Guidance in creating a customized growth plan that includes opportunity identification and feasibility analysis, financial management, leadership, negotiations, and marketing.
- One-on-one business counseling and a network of peer support from other small business owners, as well as leaders in the business world.
About Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses
Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses is based on the broadly held view of leading experts that greater access to this combination of education, capital and support services best addresses barriers to growth for small businesses. 10,000 Small Businesses is guided by an Advisory Council on which Babson President Kerry Healey serves and is co-chaired by Goldman Sachs chairman and CEO Lloyd C. Blankfein, Bloomberg L.P. founder, president and CEO, and 108th Mayor of the City of New York Michael R. Bloomberg, Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO Warren Buffett, and the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City’s Dr. Michael Porter. The National Urban League and the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce are also represented on the Advisory Council, among other groups.
To apply for the 10,000 Small Businesses business and management education program, please visitwww.10KSBapply.com.
About Babson College
Babson College is the educator, convener, and thought leader for Entrepreneurship of All Kinds®. The top-rankedcollege for entrepreneurship education, Babson is a dynamic living and learning laboratory where students, faculty, and staff work together to address the real-world problems of business and society. We prepare the entrepreneurial leaders our world needs most: those with strong functional knowledge and the skills and vision to navigate change, accommodate ambiguity, surmount complexity, and motivate teams in a common purpose to make a difference in the world, and have an impact on organizations of all sizes and types. As we have for nearly a half-century, Babson continues to advance Entrepreneurial Thought & Action® as the most positive force on the planet for generating sustainable economic and social value.
About The Creative Company, Inc.
The Creative Company is Wisconsin’s leading PR and Digital Agency where missional leaders of NPOs and companies go when they need to build, grow or change their story. Clients experience a responsive, connected, creative and data centric results-orientated leadership team of marketing professionals who believe that one person can change the world. The Creative Company has also been recognized as one of the best places to work in Dane County, as a finalist for the Torch Award for Business Ethics and Integrity by the Better Business Bureau of Wisconsin, and one of the best Ad Agencies in Wisconsin. The Creative Company is located just 6 blocks west of the Wisconsin State Capitol in downtown Madison, Wisconsin.