The Brookhaven-Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce, as a part ofsome ideas for bettering the small business community in the area,has established a brainstorming forum for business owners.

Chamber Executive Vice President Cliff Brumfield said thechamber reviews different major programs to look at what thecommunity has done in the past and what can be done to betterfulfill chamber members’ needs. A project that has developed fromthose talks is the Small Business Round Table, which gives smallbusiness owners a chance to bounce ideas for different ideas andinnovations off each other.

“Small business owners can explore ideas about the localeconomy, management issues, etc.,” said Brumfield. “They can alsohear important information from carefully selected speakers ontopics of mutual concern.”

Brumfield said the first meeting will be held Friday, April 25,at 7:30 a.m. at the Cracker Barrel Country Store. The forum isexpected to last about an hour.

“Attendees will have time to network and visit and eat breakfasttogether if they so choose,” Brumfield said. “There will be aknowledgeable speaker to discuss and provide in-depth insight intothe do’s and don’ts of monthly government reporting forms.”

He said the speaker will be Pat Lowery, a CPA with Lowery andAssociates.

“Pat will be discussing the ins and outs of state and federalmonthly report forms that have to be maintained and filed bybusiness and employers,” he said. ” This will be very beneficial toall in attendance, both new and seasoned business veterans.”

Brumfield said the round table meetings will take place once amonth and will feature speakers on topics determined by the voicedneeds of members of the groups. The meetings will be held in thelater part of the month, hopefully on Fridays, he said.

Brumfield said there will be no charge for the meetings, butthat attendees will be asked to take care of their own mealcharges.

“We hope to grow a sizable crowd and encourage any and all smallbusiness owners, including those simply interested in owning asmall business, to take part in these events,” Brumfield said.

He said if there are any suggestions from the group fordifferent formats, the sessions will be flexible so as to best meetthe needs of chamber members.

Brumfield said the chamber is also setting up a small businessmentoring program to provide and assist local business owners whenthey come across stumbling blocks in their dealings.

“It’ll be a chance for seasoned local business owners to offerpersonal insight into common problems in the business world,” hesaid. “They won’t be providing professional services for free, butrather one-on-one assistance, and giving an account of how they’dhandle different situations.”