VIDALIA — Next Tuesday, local business owners and those who hope to be business owners will have the opportunity to one-stop shop for entrepreneurial resources.

An entrepreneurs’ resource fair co-sponsored by several area workforce groups will be 1:30 to 4 p.m. at the Vidalia Conference and Convention Center March 2.

“The intent of (the fair) is to condense the time that would be required for employers to access business resources that may help them be more entrepreneurial,” said Heather Urena, Business Services Representative for the Louisiana Workforce Investment Area 60.

“It will be kind of like a reverse trade show. It will be the businesses’ turn to receive information from those agencies to try and help them.”

Those agencies that will be participating in the fair include the Louisiana Workforce Commission, Louisiana Economic Development, Louisiana Secretary of State’s Corporations Division, Northwestern State University’ Small Business Development Center and other business development agencies.

Even if Mississippi agencies aren’t necessarily represented, it won’t hurt Mississippi business owners to come over, Urena said.

“They will be presenting information that is fairly consistent with the resources that would be available in Mississippi as well,” she said. “You are going to get the same or similar services from one to the other.”

The target audience for the fair is any employer, even those who are interested in becoming self-employed, Urena said.

“It is hard enough for people to look for jobs or for businesses – public or private – to create those jobs,” she said. “We don’t want them to have to spend a lot of time searching for the resources if we can help them.

“If you can see 10 or 15 different agencies that can tell you about 10 or 20 resources in just a couple of hours rather than going to them individually, you have saved yourself that time.”

Event sponsors include the Louisiana Workforce Investment Area 60, Louisiana Procurement Technical Assistance Program at Kisatchie-Delta, the Concordia Economic and Industrial Development District and the Vidalia and Ferriday Chambers of Commerce.

“It is just putting the information out there for the business community and linking them to the resources that are available,” CPEIDD Director Heather Malone said.

The fair is free to attend, but registration is encouraged.

Call 318-487-5454 for more information.