1 )  Embark Credit Union  and the Great Falls Development Authority are excited to announce our 2019 Aspire and Inspire winners - the announcements will be made via social media on  The Fire Within Facebook page . Give it a like and be part of the action! The Fire Within Event celebrating female entrepreneurs will take place on Thursday, March 28th  starting at 5:30pm at the Meadow Lark Country Club. Don't wait for the winners to be announced to grab your seats. You can register  HERE .

2) Congratulations to Liberty Electric on being awarded a $4.5 million contract with the Department of the Air Force, Air Force Global Strike Command, Malmstrom AFB.

3) For those of you pursuing your "street MBA," March will be a busy month. Our next webinar, Finding Customers on Instagram, is Thursday, March 7th from 11-11:30 AM. All our recorded webinars are available here. Aspiring entrepreneurs can start developing their business idea Wednesday, March 13th from 4-5 PM at The LaunchPoint: A Pre-Business Workshop. QuickBooks is filling up quickly on Friday, March 15th. Reserve your spot soon here. We also scheduled another private session of our cash flow and profitability workshop, Profit Mastery, with a local business strategically planning growth. If you're a CPA seeking continuing education credits or a business owner or manager working to improve cash flow, Profit Mastery may be a great fit. Contact Jason for more information at  JNitschke@GrowGreatFalls.org.

4) Montana ranked 4th in Gallup's annual Wellbeing Index. We ranked 2nd in Community -- liking where you live, feeling safe and having pride in your community, and 4th in  Career -- liking what you do each day and being motivated to achieve your goals.

5) Did you know that SBA 504 loans can be used to purchase Ferry Boats? If you've ever thought about shortening your commute by taking a boat across the river now you can do it with low, fixed interest rates and down payments as low as 10%. If your business interests are of the landlocked variety we can finance almost all non-floating commercial real estate and long-term equipment as well.  If you're ready to set sail on your next business adventure contact Mike Archer at 406-284-1789 or  MArcher@GrowGreatFalls.org  to find out how we can help.

6) Montana workers comp loss costs will drop an average 17.2% this July, the largest decrease since 2011.

7) Our agri-processing business cases have drawn interest from across the U.S. and Canada over the past year, but this week we received requests from as far away as Australia! Our cases include barley ingredients, pulse fractionation, pulse butters dips and spreads, pulse snack food, specialty pasta, specialty malting, sprouted grains, and wheat ingredients. For more information, ask Barnett Sporkin-Morrison at Barnett@GrowGreatFalls.org or 1-406-750-3285.

8) Big Sky American Shaman, a CBD retail store, opened in Great Falls. See KRTV.

9) Tyler aced his certification exam and is now an  Accredited Small Business Consultant  (ASBC). With this certification, Tyler is qualified to counsel all aspects of a small business ranging from finance to marketing to internal controls and operational management. If you believe your business could benefit from coaching at no cost to you, contact our SBDC Business Advisors Tyler Menzel at  TMenzel@GrowGreatFalls.org , or Jason Nitschke at  JNitschke@GrowGreatFalls.org.

10) Great Falls Tourism has a great career opening for a Content and Social Media Director. Contact Rebecca Engum at Rebecca@VisitGreatFalls.org. 

The  Montana Manufacturing Extension Center  is looking for a Manufacturing Business Advisor to be based in Great Falls, working out of GFDA's new office in  West Bank Landing . See posting  here .

11) A business looking to expand reached out to us to find environmental information on a vacant property. After contacting DEQ, we were able to access old data on the site so the business could make an informed decision on whether to move forward with the purchase. For brownfield redevelopment help, contact Lillian Sunwall at LSunwall@GrowGreatFalls.org or 406-750-1253.

12) We published our Quarterly Investor Letter. Here is a list of current Investors in Great Falls Economic Development as of Thursday.

13) SAVE THE DATE! Discover new opportunities for your business! The MT PTAC has invited over 25 federal, state, and local government agencies to participate in a matchmaking event on May 29th  in Billings. The event is designed to facilitate introductions between business owners and government buyers with the intention of possibly doing business together in the future. Business owners will be able to visit with the various government buyers to discuss what products or services they provide, learn more about how the different agencies do business and find out about upcoming projects. If you are interested in seeing what government opportunities may be out there for your business, contact Lillian Sunwall at  LSunwall@GrowGreatFalls.org  or register for GovMatch 2019!  To learn more or receive assistance with preparing your business for the event give Lillian a call (406) 750-1253 to set up an appointment.

14) Tim Peterson of LPW Architecture has been elected our new Board Secretary. Thank you Tim!

15) Thank you to this week's Investors in Economic Development, Anderson ZurMeuhlen, for your Pacesetter Division investment, and FairClaim Law Firm, for you Community Level Division investment. These private investments allow our team to continue efforts in business attraction and expansion, small business coaching and advocacy, and development. To continue building on these investments, and with that, growth in Great Falls, contact Teresa Schreiner at 406.781.9499.