Farmington Chamber Hosts First Business Summit

The Farmington Chamber of Commerce hosted The Business Summit on January 23, 2013 at the Farmington Marriott on Farm Springs Road, Farmington.  The Summit ran from 7:45 a.m. through 2:30 p.m. and included a light breakfast and full buffet lunch. Vendors from the finance, accounting and real estate arena, among others, were available to speak with attendees one on one.

The day was broken into three sections, with four panelists per session.  The discussions covered:

Financing in the Current Climate – how to reset your loan or borrow to grow your business – Things are different from 5,7 or 10 years ago in the commercial lending arena.  The banks are looking for collateral, and credit scores – what does that look like? What kind of rates can you get? How long will it take? What programs are available through Connecticut Innovations and DECD? 

Getting your company in the door – large and small companies working together – Learn the process to do business with large companies in our communities.

Growing your Business – how to take your business to the next level.

Time to move from that start-up space? Should you rent or buy your space? Time to hire?  Venture capital, angel investors – are they for you? Business planning, exit strategies, real estate issues and more.

Expert Panelists for the 3 sessions included commercial real estate brokers, commercial lenders – large and small, private and public, an accountant, an attorney, business planning specialists, large firm procurement directors.

This comprehensive event, sponsored by Farmington Bank, Simsbury Bank and UCONN School of Real Estate and Urban Development featured luncheon key note speaker, Anne S. Evans, Connecticut District Director,  U.S. Department of Commerce International Trade Administration from the US Department of Commerce.  As director she leads a Trade Center team and military veteran trainee trade specialists in assisting more than 2,500 Connecticut companies export and attract overseas customers to their businesses.

In between panel discussions, participants were able to network and had access to the vendor booths.