As rewarding as owning and managing a small business can be, its challenges and frustrations can be daunting, particularly in today’s highly competitive environment. The Lakewood Urban Enterprise Zone’s (UEZ) Business Link Initiative has a mission to spread the message to Lakewood business owners that you’re not alone! Many of the challenges you face as a Lakewood entrepreneur trying to finance your business’s growth are the same challenges that other local entrepreneurs have faced and overcome.

The UEZ’s Business Link will host its next networking event on Monday, June 23, 2014 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Reception Gallery at the Strand Theater in downtown Lakewood and will spotlight “Financing Your Business”. The goal is to encourage open, friendly dialogue in an informal, roundtable setting. Businesses from all segments of Lakewood’s business community should plan to attend this informative networking event which will include a brief panel presentation including Abe Penzer, a local attorney and businessman and Michael Ragusa of Santander Bank.

At our initial general networking event in May, over fifty-five local entrepreneurs and business owners, sales people, professionals, bankers and job seekers had an opportunity to network with each other in an informal setting. They shared their problems and solutions, brainstormed for ideas, made new leads and built alliances. Mayor Menashe Miller and Deputy Mayor Albert Ackerman applauded the event and the Lakewood

Business Link Initiative. Mayor Miller highlighted the importance of supporting and patronizing local Lakewood businesses.

Patricia Komsa, executive director of the LDC and UEZ Coordinator stated, “in our experience in working with many businesses and assisting them in applying for the increasingly popular UEZ Micro loan program, it has become clear that financing a small business can be a real challenge.” Eli Josephson, small business advisor at the LCSC, said, “We recently were working with a business owner who uses credit cards for short term financing of up to $30,000 a month! There are much more efficient financing options out there and we seek to teach businesses how to find them.”

So whether your need is cash flow for day to day operations, funding for a new marketing campaign, capital to improve and expand your store, or even starting a brand new business; at this round table event, you will have the opportunity to interact with our panelists of experienced bankers, financing specialists and fellow business owners. Attendees will be encouraged to participate in the discussion and to ask questions.

We will also feature a resource table which will include information from various banks and non-traditional funding sources.

Attendees are encouraged to preregister and to submit questions for the panel in advance. To register, visit www.lakewoodnj.gov/department/UEZ. For more information, please contact Patricia Komsa, UEZ Coordinator, at 732-364-2500 x5257 or [email protected]. Or Eli Josephson at the LCSC 732-901-6001 x6 [email protected].