Very much enjoyed networking with the Singapore SelectUSA business leader delegation at the Enterprise Singapore reception. Singapore's foreign direct investment in the U.S. was $27.3 billion in 2020, including AgroCorp's investment in our region!
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Here is our Top 14 for this week celebrating work and successes to grow and strengthen the Great Falls regional economy -- Montana's Golden Triangle. And, sharing business resources and skill-building opportunities to empower your success.
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1) Congratulations to the Bear Paw Volunteer Fire Department on the completion of their new Fire Hall, see Havre Daily News. Congratulations to Malmstrom AFB's 341st Civil Engineer Squadron Natural Resources Team on winning the Air Force Civil Engineer Thomas D. White Award for best natural resources conservation team; see MAFB press release.
2) Ten entrepreneurs and advisors to business began our two-day cash flow and profitability workshop, Profit Mastery. In session one attendees learned how to analyze their financial statements, calculate and conduct ratio analysis, and how to use that information to make well-informed business decisions. Special thanks to AE2S for hosting this training.
3) The new CDL truck driver training program at Great Falls College MSU will launch in August. Eight local employers are partnering to get it started, but more are needed. Thank you to Sysco, Meadow Gold Dairy Farmers, Gusto Distributing, City of Great Falls, REIC - Midway, Warden Paper, Holman Aviation, Hoven Equipment for partnering with the college! See CDL Business Partnership Framework. Congratulations to the College, Great Falls Job Service, Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce and industry leaders for putting this together! Contact Tammie Hickey for more info at 406-771-5104 or [email protected].
4) TC Glass is a third-generation company serving Montana since 1938. The company is expanding their fabrication business in Great Falls with the purchase of the Lumber Yard Supply building on River Drive. TC Glass was started by Edward Habel and his son Edward Habel Jr. Now the company is under the leadership of Tye and Cody Habel who are carrying on the family legacy with a commitment to quality, price, and convenience. Learn more about the TC Glass expansion in our Announcement of the Week.
6) Our Downtown Business Development Officer is traveling to six communities this week in Idaho and Montana, networking and meeting with 7 target companies and developers in their downtowns and getting leads on new targets to add. If you know of a business or developer in the region that might be expanding and be a great fit in Downtown Great Falls, contact Christian at 406.836.0136 or email [email protected].
8) We are excited to be sponsoring the inaugural Montana MultiCultural Fair that will be held on the 400 block of Central Avenue in downtown Great Falls the evening of August 18th. Thank you to Rotary Electric for organizing this great event!
9) Planned and applied for our next Select USA Spin Off Summit. We hope to have our summit on April 27, 2023. This is an opportunity to showcase what it’s like doing business here to potential foreign direct investors. Check out our past two summits here.
11) The GFDA Board of Directors elected officers for FY 2023: Mark Macek of Macek Properties, Chair; Mark Cappis of Cappis Consulting & Tax, LLC, Treasurer, Jennifer Fritz of The Wendt Agency, Secretary; and, Len Watkins of Gusto Distributing, Immediate Past Chair. The Board appointed the officers and the following directors to the Executive Committee: Joe Briggs, Cascade County; Forrest Ehlinger, Benefis Health System; Eric Hinebauch, Eric Hinebauch Agency; Ted Lewis, First Interstate Bank; Ron Nelson, Church, Harris, Johnson & Williams, P.C.; Dan Reardon, Liberty Electric; and, Errol Rice, Transystems.
12) The GFDA Board appointed our Loan Committee for FY 2023: Rebecca Engum, Great Falls Montana Tourism, Committee Chair; Teri Anderson, Stockman Bank; Scott Blumfield, Catalyst Commercial; Martin Byrnes, Cushing Terrell; Dwight Holman, Holman Aviation, Shiela Rice, Retired; Chad Simonson, Independence Bank; Tasha Stoll, Guy Tabacco Construction; Erin Townsend, Embark FCU; and, Rich West, WET.
13) Congratulations Jill on completing the first week of the Economic Development Finance Professional certification!
14) GFDA has a long history of support from our INVESTORS. They are the reason we can keep working towards bringing more high wage opportunities to the region. Recent investments include: Pacesetter Division—Sletten Construction Company. These investors are the catalyst for growth in our area, they are helping to Grow Great Falls! If you are interested in joining the team, and want to support our mission, contact Investment Director Jenn Gallmeier at 406-781-9499 or [email protected].
Another great week moving the Great Falls Montana region forward!
Brett
Brett Doney
President & CEO
Connect with me on LinkedIn to network with the Great Falls Montana region. Forward the GFDA Top 10 to friends and colleagues. You can join our distribution list HERE or text GFDA to 22828.
"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant."
Robert Louis Stevenson
Edition 540
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Cost-Effective Rail-Served Industrial Sites Available
If your company needs a rail-served, BNSF-Certified, shovel-ready site with all municipal services at your door, we have lots available for immediate construction in the Great Falls AgriTech Park. Contact Jolene Schalper at 1.406.750.4481 or [email protected]
July SBA 504 Loan Rates
The 25-year loan effective rate (including all fees) came in at 5.107%; 20-year at 5.047%; 10-year equipment loan at 4.962%; and, 20-year refinance 5.061%; 25-year refinance 5.120%. These rates are FIXED for the life of the loan and are inclusive of all fees. If you would like to find out how to get financing for commercial real estate and equipment at potentially lower rates than you're paying for your home mortgage, please contact Jill Kohles at 406-590-1056 or [email protected].
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Events, Business Training, and Opportunities
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We’re launching a new training to inspire and educate entrepreneurs about becoming a franchise owner. Becoming a Franchisee: An Alternate Path to Business Ownership will be hosted in-person July 29 and via a two-part webinar August 11 and August 18.
The Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce announced the inaugural Worlds of Work! (WOW). WOW is a career expo pioneered by West Alabama Works. Though NOT a typical job fair, this event opens new avenues of opportunity for middle school students they never knew were possible. The Chamber's goal this first year is to have sixteen Worlds, each representing one of Montana’s sixteen recognized career pathways. On October 18th, 2022, WOW will be held at Great Falls College – MSU and the University of Providence (inside and outside) from 7:30 AM - 6:00 PM. Area 8th graders will be divided into groups and will have a navigator who will guide them to each of the worlds, where they will explore for approximately 20-25 minutes before traveling to the next world. WOW Varsity, the block for high school students, will be in the late afternoon, and will include sophomores only for this first year. Check out the West Alabama WOW. Contact Scott Wolff for more info at [email protected].
The Montana Innovation Partnership is offering a number of trainings and an accelerator program for companies interested in pursuing Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) or Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants.
The transition is complete! The D-U-N-S number has gone away, and the SAM.gov-generated Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) isnow the authoritative identifier for all U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) and Integrated Award Environment (IAE) systems. If you are registered in SAM.gov (active or not), you have already been assigned a UEI (SAM). To register your business in SAM.gov for the first time, get a UEI (SAM), or to find out more information about how this transition affects you, contact your Great Falls PTAC and connect with Shannon at [email protected]
Montana STEP grants can pay for 75% of your international export marketing efforts up to $10,000. The Montana TechLink Center at MSU is offering a new round of workshops on how to win Small Business Innovation Research funding.
What’s it like to live in Great Falls Montana? Get a glimpse through the new Great Falls 2022 Livability Magazine! Livability Great Falls is a tool for recruiting people from outside our community and is one of the tools for our Talent Attraction campaign. We also have a Email List to share resumes of trailing partners and others and we promote Hot Jobs – jobs that would entice people to move here. If you are recruiting people from outside Great Falls, click here to join our recruiter email list and learn more.
USDA launched a Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) to help compensate producers with their livestock losses incurred by adverse weather or attacks by animals reintroduced into the wild by the Federal Government. LIP payments are equal to 75% the average fair market value of the livestock. For more information visit the USDA website here.
We have migrated our pre-business workshop for early stage and pre-venture startups to a self-paced, video-facilitated, online format. Business Basics for Startups is now live and ready for beta testing. If you’d like to check out the content and provide feedback, we’d appreciate it. Click here to check out the new modules and resources. Please direct feedback to Rich at [email protected].
Montana Rapid Retraining funds are available to help more people enroll in workforce training programs and expand industry-driven accelerated workforce training courses. The Great Falls Job Service can assist with Rapid Retaining Efforts. Contact Beth Schmidt at 406-791-5869 or [email protected]. For business strategy/planning help to take advantage of this one-time opportunity, contact our Small Business Development Center (SBDC) regional director, Jason Nitschke at [email protected]
What if you could step back for a couple hours a month, discuss issues with similar size companies and work on your business growth? We invite CEOs to join PeerSpectives, a CEO roundtable system with structured, facilitate protocols. When companies reach the second stage (typically 10+ employees, $1m + in revenue) they have unique challenges and this model is designed to maximize your opportunities. Call Jason Nitschke to discuss, 750.0314. Participation is limited by size and industry. Learn more about this proven system here.
Attention Veteran-Owned Businesses! In less than a year the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Center for Verification and Evaluation (CVE) will transfer to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). As of January 1, 2023, all functions of VA’s CVE will be handled by the SBA. To help make this a seamless transition, we encourage all self-certified SDVOSBs to complete the verification process through the VA now before the transfer becomes effective. Please start the verification process at https://vetbiz.va.gov/vip/. For more information on starting the verification process, contact Lillian Sunwall at [email protected].
The best resource we scan daily to stay abreast of business and community innovation is MATR.net (Montana Associated Technology Roundtables) which we are proud to help sponsor. Sign up for their free newsletter.
The Montana Department of Commerce launched an investment matchmaking website for Montana business projects. The Opportunity Exchange’s - Montana Investment Portal is a website where investors can easily view and connect to projects in the state. Click here to view listed projects. Click here to get your investment project listed on the portal. For help posting your project or property on the Montana Investment Portal, contact Kristian Richardson at 406-841-2032 or [email protected].
Join the Trailing Partner Email Group specifically for employers to share resumes of trailing spouses/partners across the Great Falls region with other employers looking to hire. “Your (Live in Great Falls) website is very impressive and helpful! Great Falls looks amazing, and we love what we've seen real estate-wise, and business-wise.” This quote was from an email sent to us from a couple considering relocation to Great Falls. We will be sharing their resumes (with their permission) on the Trailing Partner Email Group.
Looking to take control of your business’s financials, increase profit, and improve your bottom line? We have had interest from businesses in scheduling a Profit Mastery course. These courses are scheduled by demand. If you are interested in taking this two-day workshop, contact Jason Nitschke at [email protected] or call (406) 750-0314.
Visit our relocation website LiveInGreatFalls.com. This website was the #1 request we got from local recruiters and HR professionals for aiding in attracting talented workers to Great Falls. The Great Falls At-A-Glance two-pager is a great complementary resource that highlights Great Falls for people unfamiliar with our community.
We have Brownfield Clean-Up money that we want to put to work! Our low interest Brownfield Loans can be used to clean up hazardous materials including but not limited to lead paint, asbestos, etc. Are you working on a project that could use some clean up? Call Lillian today to discuss eligibility 406.750.1253 or [email protected].
Of our online business planning tool, LivePlan, one said: "LivePlan is Awesome!" The LivePlan tool is helping her streamline her strategy in preparation for presenting to bank partners. We offer LivePlan licenses for free to active clients. Learn more about LivePlan on our website.
All of our recorded monthly business strategy webinars are available online for viewing anytime, click them out here.
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Our Mission
Grow diverse economic opportunities that enhance quality of life.
GFDA is a certified Community Development Financial Institution and a 501(c)3 charitable organization. High Plains Financial is a certified Community Development Corporation that offers SBA 504 loans statewide. GFDA and High Plains Financial are Equal Opportunity Employers and Lenders.
GFDA is proud to host a Montana Small Business Development Center, a Montana Procurement Technical Assistance Center, and a Montana Food & Ag Development Center. We are also proud to provide office space for MSU's Montana Manufacturing Extension Center and an SBA Women's Business Center in partnership with the University of Montana and the Montana Native Growth Fund.
GFDA was the first economic development organization in the Rocky Mountain West to earn accreditation from the International Economic Development Council.
For more info, click to our website.
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