LEWISBURG — CB Constructions Services Inc. has been operating for seven years in York County and owner Denise Barker is ready to expand.
Seeking assistance in that effort, Barker, of Dillsburg, attended an information session in Lewisburg on Thursday from the Emerging Leaders program, a six-month, intensive training initiative offered through the Small Business Administration Eastern Pennsylvania District Office.
The SBDC in Lewisburg hosted the US Small Business Administration on Thursday.
The free program will include 13 training sessions between April and November with experts in various fields, such as accounting and lending, offering tips and on finance, customer service, marketing, government procurement and human resources.
Only 20 seats are available for the sessions eligible to entrepreneurs that have been in business at least three years, annual sales of at least $250,000 and at least one employee in addition to the owner.
"We're looking for folks who are poised for growth," said Michael Kane, deputy district director of SBA's Eastern Pennsylvania officer, who along with Kim Stout, project coordinator, met with Barker to discuss the program.
Barker plans to sign up with an aim of finding new funding sources and other expertise needed to purchase a building and recruit younger workers to her construction firm.
"I want to grow the business," she said of her plans to at least double the company's employees from 15 to 30.
Steven Stumbris, director of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Bucknell University, is encouraging Valley businesses that meet the criteria for the new program to take advantage of it.
"It's an opportunity for local small business owners to take their business to a new level. I hope that they apply," he said.
In the past year, the SBDC has served 150 businesses and 31 new entrepreneurs, Stumbris said.
Emerging Leaders has been offered to business in the Philadelphia area for the past 10 years and has aided participating businesses in securing $83 million in new financing, Kane said.
Applications for the Emerging Leaders sessions are available at and must be submitted by March 1.