Survey: NebraskaEDGE Having an Impact on Local Economies
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 - 6:44 pm
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Amid a struggling economy, home-grown small businesses are key to a community's health, and the NebraskaEDGE program continues to play an important role in nurturing entrepreneurship, according to a new study.
NebraskaEDGE (Enhancing, Developing and Growing Entrepreneurs) is University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension's umbrella organization for rural entrepreneurial training programs hosted by local communities, organizations and associations. More than 2,500 people from 328 Nebraska communities have enrolled in the training programs since 1993.
A recently completed five-year review illustrates NebraskaEDGE's impact from 2002-2007, during which 868 individuals participated in classes in 27 communities. Nearly 800 individuals were invited to participate in the survey; 298 responded, or more than 37 percent.
Marilyn Schlake, associate director of NebraskaEDGE, was pleased by the survey's findings.
"People are using the skills they've learned in our program and putting them into their businesses," she said.
Among the findings:
-- Forty-five percent of respondents had an established business when they enrolled in EDGE; 34 percent had an idea for a business; and 21 percent had a start-up business less than a year old.
-- Fifty-eight percent of respondents reported they'd increased their interaction with other local business owners, and 48 percent increased their support to other business owners. Such local involvement is key to small-business success, Schlake said.
"This type of program really operates best in the context of the community and community support," Schlake said. "These businesses do need that community interaction; they do need the community's help."
-- Seventy-one percent said they'd completed business plans; 15 percent said their business plans were still in progress.
-- Eighteen percent of respondents with a business idea said they'd established, acquired or purchased a business as a result of the EDGE program. Thirty-five percent of the respondents who had an existing business said they'd expanded their business.
A separate business survey, with 120 respondents, provided additional details about EDGE's impact:
-- Fifty-three percent of participants said they had full-time or part-time employees during the previous year. Of the 64 businesses with employees, there was an increase in employment; average part-time employment rose by an average of 1 employee per business, and full-time by 1.14 per business. Also, seasonal part-time employees were up .45 employees per business.
-- Average business assets rose from $189,729 before EDGE participation to $316,748.
-- Total sales and receipts in 2007 for EDGE survey respondents ranged from zero to $6 million. Fifty percent reported $70,000 or less in gross sales; 25 percent had at least $250,000. Average sales for full-time businesses in 2007 were $622,041 and, for part-time businesses, $24,064.
-- Sixty-three percent of respondents reported an increase in sales from 2006 to 2007, with an average increase of $221,371; 23 percent reported sales stayed stable; the rest reported decreases.
-- Of the 43 businesses that reported a net profit in 2007, 58 percent attributed their participation in EDGE as contributing 25 percent toward their success, while 25 percent gave EDGE 50 percent of the credit.
EDGE, a part of the university's Center for Applied Rural Innovation, was created in 1993. More information is available at http://nebraskaedge.unl.edu/
