NoCo chambers host webinar about unemployment fraud

GREELEY — The East Colorado Small Business Development Center is hosting a two-day conference educating small-business owners on how they can participate in the budding hemp industry. Harvesting Hemp will take place Feb. 8 and 9 at Aims Community College. The seminar is part of the Leading Edge Strategic Planning Series. Leading Edge delivers comprehensive training to small businesses and has courses to help startups and existing businesses with finance, marketing, management and other skills. Lisa Hudson, director of the East Colorado SBDC, said the decision to have a seminar on hemp stemmed from a desire to have subject matter relevant to agriculture-heavy East Colorado. “Over the last year, year-and-a-half we’ve seen an increase in this industrial hemp industry,” Hudson said. “We heard from farmers who wanted to transition their current crops or start new crops that were industrial hemp.” Hudson said the Harvesting Hemp class will cover a variety of topics, starting off with an industry and market overview. It will also include topics such as business planning and navigating the liabilities and regulations of hemp. There will be a panel with industry experts talking about what they would have done differently when they first started. A buyers panel will include those who make purchases discussing what they’re looking for. Other topics include creative financing, what the Farm Bill means and what to think about when it comes to hiring and employees. The two-day class is open to anyone interested in hemp, including current farmers or just people who are looking to become entrepreneurs in a growing market. Registration costs $175 and includes meals, coursework and additional materials needed for the class. Registration is now open and limited to 40 people. “This is the first time the SBDC has covered this topic in Colorado,” Hudson told BizWest. “It’s exciting.”

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LOVELAND — The Northern Colorado Economic Alliance is partnering with three Northern Colorado chambers of commerce and will add Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce president David May, Loveland Chamber of Commerce president Mindy McCloughan and Greeley Area Chamber of Commerce president Sarah MacQuiddy to its board of directors. The Loveland-based alliance, rebranded last year as OneNoCo, aims to bolster economic development in Northern Colorado by attracting businesses and jobs to the area. NCEA’s partnership with the three largest chambers in Northern Colorado is meant to help coordinate promotion and recruitment efforts. “We are thrilled to announce this partnership with the three largest chambers of commerce in the region and welcome them to the board,” alliance board chairman Scott Ehrlich said in a prepared statement. “We all agree there is a need to proactively brand and market the region to reinforce why companies should stay and expand in Northern Colorado. There is a great sense of enthusiasm about the future of the region and the desire to all work together.” The organization is currently without a leader after the departure of former CEO Andy Montgomery at the end of 2018. As part of the partnership, the Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce has offered short-term staffing support should NCEA need it, according to David May, CEO of the Fort Collins chamber. The alliance has yet to take the chamber up on that offer. Chamber funds will not be redirected to the alliance; support and resources are being offered on an in-kind basis, according to a resolution passed by the chamber board of directors last month. Resources, which will be made available through the end of the first quarter of this year, include (but are not limited to) 20 hours per month of executive time for planning, developing a marketing and branding council, investor-relations plan and other needs; six hours per month for board meeting planning and management; 15 hours per month for event management; and 25 hours per month for communications.

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