Small firms getting a boost

Money and opportunity were scarce for Sudanese refugee Alual Majok when she decided to bring a little bit of flavor from her native country to Utah.

Majok's visions of a Sudanese catering businesses in the middle of the annual downtown Farmers Market were just out of reach as she found herself $500 short to buy the rest of the needed equipment and food.

After explaining her dilemma to the state's Small Business Administration, Majok quickly found herself with a $500 check from Salt Lake County and a promise to help her even more when she starts working on a full-blown Sudanese restaurant.

"They just wrote me a check and give it to me. I was surprised. He said, 'You're all set,' and I said, 'What?,' " said Majok, who has lived in Utah for five years with her four children. Her husband died before the family left Sudan.

"It's good for our country to be involved in the community. For me it's good to have something for Sudan in Utah."

Although Majok had less to work with than most business owners, economic development director Dale Carpenter said Salt Lake County's small business program helps people like Majok each year through a series of loan programs, training sessions and networking help.

With roughly 72 percent of the county's businesses having fewer than nine employees, Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon says they are a top priority.

"Our local businesses are the real economic engines of our county," Corroon said after pitching a budget proposal this month to funnel $51,000 more toward training and workshops for small businesses.

That extra push for small business is needed now more than ever, Carpenter added, as the county's small businesses grow and more residents are trying to start up their own companies.

Roughly 30,000 businesses in the county fall into the small-business category, employing fewer than 20 people each. Small companies specializing in the biomedical field, information technologies and Web page design are some of the most common in the county, Carpenter said.

"It's sort of a global trend right now. It's a function of people being entrepreneurial and perhaps wanting to be their own boss and seeing a niche in the marketplace they think they can fill," Carpenter said. "We clearly are a magnet to small business in this county. "