Hannah Grimes grant helps businesses dream big

The Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship in Keene was awarded more than $350,000 to support microenterprises in the Monadnock Region, the NH Community Development Finance Authority recently announced.

Hannah Grimes is one of eight economic development centers across the Granite State to receive money, the CDFA said in a Sept. 17 news release. In all, the authority awarded nearly $2 million as part of the Community Development Block Grant to organizations that help entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Under the umbrella of the block grant is the microenterprise program, which focuses on businesses with fewer than five employees, according to the CDFA’s website. Katherine Easterly Martey, the CDFA’s executive director, said in the release that supporting New Hampshire small businesses strengthens local communities by creating jobs, expanding opportunity and driving inclusive economic growth.

The microenterprise grant funds will go to several of the Hannah Grimes Center’s mentorship endeavors, such as technical assistance and training for 50 qualifying microenterprises and business workshops, the release says. It will contribute to Hannah Grimes’ existing incubator program, which serves businesses that are up and running, and an eight-week business lab program.

Julianna Dodson, executive director of the Hannah Grimes Center, said the center gets a critical amount of grant money through the CDFA’s block grant.

The center has a roster of more than 30 business experts in the Monadnock Region who offer small enterprises services such as legal assistance, accounting and business strategy, Dodson said. That service is free and open to anyone up to three times with each coach.

Nascent entrepreneurs can get a handle on the business basics they need to get their venture off the ground through the center’s services, according to Dodson, who said one part of the center’s assistance is providing moral support for fledgling proprietors.

“They don’t see themselves as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, and they really just need encouragement and the realization that anyone is welcome in the field of business,” she said.

Occasionally, people in the program set out to start a business and realize that it’s not for them — an outcome that is equally as valuable as starting one, Dodson said.

“It is better to know early on, especially because a lot of small business owners end up sinking a lot of their own personal funds into starting their businesses,” she explained. “That can leave you in a very precarious position if (the business) doesn’t end up being successful.”

Mary Ann Kristiansen, who founded the center, had a favorite maxim — “one at a time” — that still guides the center’s mentorship efforts, Dodson said.

“It’s not about quantity,” Dodson said.

“For us, we find that it’s most successful when our support is really custom and individual and human. That has really carried us through everything.”