LAKE BENTON, Minn. — The Sirolli Institute is proud to announce Lake Benton was the first American community to adopt the Sirolli Institute’s internationally acclaimed Enterprise Facilitation® concept which has captured the imagination of more than 40,000 small businesses worldwide. Through “Enterprise Facilitation,” civic leaders learn how to capture local intelligence. The program trains a full-time, local advisor – the Enterprise Facilitator – to introduce the fundamentals of good management to aspiring entrepreneurs and small business operators within the community. Imagine your community could consult a free and confidential “Family Doctor of Business?”
Dr. Sirolli said. “It’s terrific to be going back to Lincoln County on November 23rd 2009. with the people who trusted me and sparked my imagination, so many years ago The people of Lincoln County showed they had the passion and commitment to achieve something great from something very little – and communities have recognized this and have followed suit in a big way.”
“The idea I had was to help people do what they had a passion for. I started with respect, for their energy and determination, and then I did anything I could to see them succeed, to create real and profitable business ventures,” Sirolli said.
In 1989, Dr. Sirolli and Master Facilitator, Brian Willoughby from Australia’s first project in Esperance in 1985, trained the volunteer Board of Management and the Enterprise Facilitator Vince Robinson and the Lincoln County Enterprise Development Corporation has managed beautifully since then.
Says Vince Robinson: “It never ceases to amaze me how so many people in our little corner of the world can have such passion for being business owners. It is always such a thrill for me to work with individuals who are able to turn a yearning for a better life into rewarding business ventures. It has been a great privilege for me, to have had the opportunity to work with such wonderful people over the past twenty years. Their enthusiasm and perseverance are what keep me motivated.”
One of the cornerstones of the Enterprise Facilitation program is to engage a local advisory group to help support the Enterprise Facilitator’s role in the community. This group becomes the facilitator’s point of entry to the people within the community and it provides the collective genius and network in support of a multitude of new and expanding local businesses.
Joyce Dass from Lincoln County says: “Being a founding member of the steering committee that resulted in the creation of Lincoln County Enterprise Development Corporation, I am gratified to look back on the many positive impacts we have made in the last 20 years. We are proud of the accomplishments of the entrepreneurs we have served and look forward to a bright future by continuing to assist the enterprising people of Lincoln County.”
Dr. Sirolli said that no entrepreneur can “do it, sell it and keep the books” equally well and that Enterprise Facilitation is about stopping entrepreneurs from “dying of solitude.”
Dr. Sirolli says that Enterprise Facilitation teaches clients to form a team to produce the product (or service), market it and manage the finances. The team is probably easily assembled in the community and the power of it is immense. “After all this is the way Wal-Mart started. It was Sam, his wife Helen and her father who started the business and people tend to forget that every successful company from Disney to Google has been set up by more than one person,” Sirolli says.
More information: www.sirolli.com .
