AKSourceLink: networking for Alaskans: help for Alaskans in business start-up.

• Author: Edmunds, Mary
• Position: EDUCATION

AKSourceLink is a community referral network for start-up and growing businesses. There is no charge either for user or resource provider. The network has a website and a toll-free hotline staffed Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. As Linda Ketchum, manager of the program, describes it, "We don't provide the services. We just make the connections."

This Alaska-based network is affiliated with USSourceLink, an outgrowth of the KCSourceLink started in Kansas City, Mo. In 2003, individuals at the University of Kansas got together to form an accessible network of the many organizations working to help business people searching for answers. It was started in partnership with the Small Business Administration and the Kauffman Foundation located in Kansas. In 2004, USSourceLink was formed to expand the network.

AKSourceLink functions under the auspices of the Center for Economic Development (CED) at the University of Alaska. The CED is housed in Anchorage, but is a statewide University of Alaska program. The CED conducted a survey a few years ago interviewing business owners in communities with populations between 200 and 1,400. Many of the participants said they had problems finding and connecting with the resources that could provide answers.

START UP

AKSourceLink was started by. the Alaska Entrepreneurial Consortium, a group of 16 organizations, in conjunction with the university. In 2007, Christi Bell, the executive director of the CED, was at an International Economic Development Conference where she learned about USSourceLink, a model for the sort of resource networking needed in Alaska. The CED put in a proposal to the Denali Commission, which had funds to award to a project promoting economic development in Alaska. It was launched in July 2009. Linda Ketchum, the program coordinator, has a master's degree in adult education and has taught courses in entrepreneurship.

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Implementation of the project involved traveling to more than 20 rural communities to learn about area needs. Workshops were held in these communities and small business resource expos were conducted in Southeast Alaska in conjunction with the Juneau Economic Development Commission.

Attendees of these workshops included people who could provide technical assistance and training and others who were interested in starting or expanding businesses. All types of industry were represented, mostly businesses one would expect in small communities.

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