When Claire Collins launched OtherWise Home, a full-service real estate solutions firm in RVA, she turned to Greater Richmond GATE for a boost. While Collins has an impressive track record in business, she knew that a refresher would give her startup the best chance of success in a competitive real estate investment market.

Greater Richmond GATE, the second phase of 2011’s inaugural Richmond GATE, launched July 1, 2013 and provides job and business creation in the region. The GATE program is designed to help WIA (Workforce Investment Act) participants and veterans start their own businesses after taking a suite of courses to develop comprehensive business expertise and knowledge. The original iteration of GATE trained 236 participants and successfully created more than 70 businesses in the Greater Richmond region.

“The classes were important; they provided an understanding of what it takes to operate a business, as opposed to just winging it,” says Collins. “GATE and the business consultant they provided, Harpal Malik, encouraged me to accomplish goals I had already identified but was afraid to take the leap on.” Collins continues to thrive in the Richmond region, working on her first large-scale project and planning to add staff in the future.

GATE participants like Collins, who are randomly selected, are provided premier business services and learning opportunities from the moment they enroll in the program. Business consultants are provided to each GATE participant and act as partners throughout the program, assisting with developing a business plan and also mentoring on networking opportunities and branding. Participants are also given direction through structured courses about business planning, credit, finance and accounting, business law, marketing, and more-all to promote entrepreneurship in the area. Consulting can help in a myriad of ways in keeping businesses thriving as they grow in their field. From business consultants Sydney to business consultants in Virginia there is always help on hand for those who need it and want to take that confident step forward.

While GATE offers courses to build foundational entrepreneurship, its mentoring component is equally important to ensure participants receive hands-on experience and advice for entering the business world. Together have some interesting mentoring use cases which perfectly exemplify how beneficial mentorship is for those involved in business and entrepreneurship – you can find them by following the link. GATE works under the same principle. “We actively seek mentors with business-ownership experience and match them with GATE clients. Our mentors extend relationships beyond the participant’s involvement in the program and it becomes a cyclical way to track and continue success,” says Martin Short, Greater Richmond GATE coordinator.

In case hands-on experience, business courses, marketing assistance, and development of a business plan isn’t enough, the program and its added-value support from instructors, counselors, and teams at Community College Workforce Alliance (CCWA) and RESOURCE is free to participants who are accepted. RESOURCE, a partner with CCWA in administering GATE efforts, aims to transform the workforce to advance economic wellbeing in the Richmond region.

“Participants develop in two main ways while working through the GATE program,” says Short. “They gain the necessary insight that their product or service must solve a problem or meet a need. Becoming a subject-matter expert in this area is the push. Next, GATE participants learn to become students of entrepreneurship and business development.”

Short says that the courses and consulting are designed to teach how to make sound business decisions. In addition, participants receive insight and instruction on owning and operating a business as well as leadership skills in an environment tailored to their individual needs.

Greater Richmond GATE success stories, as well as information about participating, can be found online at grgate.org.