Fulton Area Development Corporation forms committee to aid Callaway County entrepreneurs

A new Fulton Area Development Corporation committee wants to help business-minded residents of Fulton and Callaway County get their foot in the door.

The seven members of the FADC's new Entrepreneurial Initiative board, meant to help mentor entrepreneurs with several aspects of starting or maintaining a small business. The board's seven members say a focus on existing and potential smaller businesses - not larger or more established entities - is a major key to bolstering Fulton's economy.

Still in its early stages, the board formed following an FADC-hosted community entrepreneurship workshop among local business leaders. Members say it has a ways to go, but board member and FADC President Bruce Hackmann said that the Entrepreneurial Initiative eventually aims to be its own more independent entity, overseeing a number of its own projects to spur economic growth in the area.

"It reflects kind of a growing trend nationwide that larger industrial-type development, which has traditionally been the focus of economic development organizations, is getting harder and harder to accomplish because of the competitiveness of the entire process," Hackmann said. "That's why communities of all sizes ... are looking to grow their own companies, because there's a lot of entrepreneurs out there who have ideas or even small businesses already who are just looking for different types of support."

To help the tornado-stricken people of Dumas and surroundings, donations can be made to the Delta Area Disaster Relief Fund, care of the Delta Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 894, Dumas, AR, 71639, or through the Arkansas Community Foundation, 700 S. Rock St., Little Rock, AR, 72202.