JAX Bridges celebrated a decade of helping Jacksonville’s small business community expand.
With more than 2,000 alumni, the program provides entrepreneurial education at no cost for small and medium sized businesses to inspire strategic network growth and contract opportunities. The initiative started in 2014 by Dr. Carlton Robinson, Chief Innovation Officer of JAX Chamber.
“We had the programming concept prior to joining the Chamber. It was about validated learning”, said Dr. Robinson. “We created an opportunity for innovators to exchange with stakeholders, get funding, and work for each other.”
During the qualification process, small businesses practice plans, pitches, and strategies among corporations through a series of traditional in-person, online, and hybrid activities. The three month course ensures participants are finishing the program with proven, professional knowledge on their industry.
“When I see that companies have gone through JAX Bridges, I know they’ve completed the right training, they know their business and they’re ready,” said Devin Reed, Chief Compliance Officer at Jacksonville Aviation Authority.
Targeting customers through her JAX Bridges training, graduate Lakita Spann, owner of Mr. Potato Spread, recently opened a second location in River City Marketplace. “My relationship with JAX Bridges and JAX Chamber has been extremely beneficial to Mr. Potato Spread,” said Spann, whose business revenue has more than doubled since she participated in the program. “I go back and speak and give back as often as they need me to. It’s a relationship worth maintaining and keeping and cultivating because there’s nothing else like it.”
JAX Bridges runs two cohorts each year with applications for Cohort 21 open August 12th.
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