TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Small towns have more difficulties than cities in attracting expanding businesses and enticing entrepreneurs to open new ones. So the Alabama Entrepreneurial Research Network, begun by The University of Alabama’s Center for Business and Economic Research, provides economic and business services and advice for rural business owners and entrepreneurs.

Jacky Poole, owner of Smokin’ Jack’s Barbecue in Demopolis, used the resources offered by AERN through his local chamber of commerce. His barbecue restaurant will be featured on a segment of The Food Network at 8:30 p.m. CDT, June 3, at 12:30 a.m. CDT June 4 and at 5:30 p.m. June 5. The show is hosted by Al Roker.

AERN, part of UA’s Culverhouse College of Commerce, makes services available through chambers of commerce and industrial development authorities in seven Alabama counties. It also constructs websites and provides technology otherwise unavailable to assist rural areas with industrial recruitment.

Annette Watters, program manager at the Center for Business and Economic Research, believes AERN, co-directed by Paavo Hanninen, director of the Small Business Development Center and the Family Business Forum at The University of Alabama, has made a positive difference in the areas where it has been adopted.

“If we can boost business and encourage small business growth in rural and poverty stricken areas, we can improve the economy,” Watters said. “People in these areas don’t always have easy access to current, important business research resources,” she said. “The tools provided through the AERN are meant to promote business growth and prevent a possible failure.”

Through the efforts of the AERN and the success of small businesses like Smokin’ Jack’s Barbecue, Watters hopes use of the program will increase in areas where it is most needed.

Poole turned to the Demopolis Area Chamber of Commerce when he wanted to open his restaurant. There he found the AERN resources helpful in constructing his business plan.

“For anybody starting up a business, they have everything you need to know,” Poole said.

Through the AERN, Poole was able to find information on traffic flow around the restaurant’s proposed location and the number of people and other restaurants in the area. He said he believes including those kinds of specifics in his business proposal helped him get a business loan.

AERN brings resources to entrepreneurs that rural area chambers of commerce can not afford. This saves business owners hours of Internet or library searching.

“It’s obvious,” Hanninen said, “that some of these resources are way out of the budgetary reach of some chambers of commerce and local public libraries. What we do is give the prospective business owners a toolbox from which to work. There is a lot of general business information out there, but ours is specific, and people need that to start businesses,” Hanninen said.

Hanninen and business reference librarians Todd Hines and Paul Brothers travel to chambers of commerce and industrial development authorities and instruct them on AERN’s tools. Personnel at these chambers and authorities then assist entrepreneurs in their surrounding communities.

Hanninen, Hines and Brothers also boost awareness of programs like the Alabama Virtual Library, which Hines says has excellent business databases. The AERN website allows business owners to ask Hines and Brothers specific questions about obtaining information. All inquiries are answered within 24 hours.

“With a small business, time is limited, so what we try to do is give them shortcuts to the kinds of business information that all small business owners need,” Hines said.

In the same way that small businesses run into funding problems, the AERN’s limited budget allows it to be available only in Perry, Sumter, Greene, Hale, Marengo, Wilcox and Dallas counties.

Sandy Smith, executive director of the Monroeville Chamber of Commerce, said she hopes the AERN will soon have the funding to spread into Monroe County. She said that small chambers of commerce are always looking for money to expand businesses but are limited by their resources and marketing budgets.

“If you’re a Fortune 500 company you don’t have problems getting business information, but it costs [ordinary] people a lot of money to get that information on their own. What I want to do is bring the information down to the grassroots level so that everyday businesses can use it,” Smith said.

“I would send any potential business person to the chamber,” Poole said. “I have a friend who is trying to start a business. He says he wants to start small and build the business slowly. I told him to use the AERN materials at the chamber to know how to expand his business.”

For more information on the AERN, visit: http://aern.cba.ua.edu