SALT LAKE CITY — Starting a small business is hard — and in Utah, most small businesses can fail within 5 years. But a program offered through the Utah Black Chamber of Commerce is designed to help small business owners build something sustainable.
Carla Lifferth, CEO of Liftgate Parties and Events, has been part of the chamber's Financial Capacity Program for 5 months.
She says the experience has been transformative. "It's therapy... Just like when you go to your therapist, you sit on that couch, and you're like, I can actually now just breathe, right? That's how I feel when having our financial capacity meetings. There's tough love, there's hard love, but it's, it's the things that I need, that I need in my business to be able to grow it," Lifferth said.
Lifferth says she is now growing her business into a legacy to leave to her 4 kids.
Dr. Sidni Lloyd-Shorter, President and CEO of the 400-member Utah Black Chamber, says most small businesses fail because of financial difficulty.
The Financial Capacity Program pairs business owners with a CFO for a period of time to help grow their business — and, in turn, add to Utah's economic diversity. "One on one, it's not cookie-cutter. It's really based on what your business need, where you're looking to grow, how you're looking to grow, and in that way, strategically you have a better opportunity and best shot at being successful, sustainable, and passing along a legacy," Lloyd-Shorter said.
The Financial Capacity Program is open to any small business. Membership in the Utah Black Chamber is required to participate, but membership is not limited to Black business owners. In fact, only a third of the chamber's members are of African American descent.
