The City of Knoxville will partner with several other organizations to offer a free Small Business Conference on Thursday, April 16, at the United Way Building located at 1301 Hannah Ave.

This conference is part of an ongoing series of events offered by the city's Community Relations Department. The conference sessions will specifically focus on the needs of all small business owners with the intent of providing a forum for business owners to learn how to:

Better access local resources Make sense out of "Going Green" Increase awareness of possible business and financing opportunities Identify avenues to increase capital To provide a forum for women business owners

The organizers want this event to be a great source of information for small business owners.

The first workshop for this hands-on event - held in a business casual environment - is a special women-specific event that begins before the official opening of the conference. 

"What the city and the other sponsors want to do is give folks involved in small businesses the tools they need to be more successful," said Mayor Bill Haslam. "We think this is particularly important right now because we're in a demanding economic climate where accessing funding and locating new business opportunities has become more difficult."
 
"Hopefully everyone can take something away from this conference that will help them enhance their business and create a lot of success," he added.

In addition to the City of Knoxville's Community Relations Department, other conference sponsors include SunTrust Bank; The Greater Knoxville Business Journal; Johnson Architecture; Associated Women & Construction; The Knoxville Chamber; Pellissippi State Technical Community College's Tennessee Small Business Development Center and the City of Knoxville Purchasing Department.

The city's Small Business Conference is part of its Equal Business Opportunity Program (EBOP), efforts to increase its contracts with minority and women-owned businesses and nurture the small business community.

For more information about the conference or to register please call 865-215-3867 or 865-215-3966 or email [email protected]