Jan 24, 2009

Antioch business workshops try to keep small employers afloatBy Hilary CostaContraCostaTimes.com

Parwin Fazli is determined to keep her company afloat even as every week seems to bring word of another business caving to the weak economy.

“We have to make it,” said Fazli, co-owner of the Antioch limousine service All Vital Transportation. “We have to go through this, and we’ll try to do our best.”

In the past few months, All Vital has felt the pinch from fewer people splurging on charters to Napa wineries, and corporate clients are booking fewer airport trips as they cut their own travel budgets.

So on Tuesday, Fazli found herself at the first installment of the Antioch Chamber of Commerce’s Business 911 workshop series, listening to Bank of the West’s Christine O’Brien discuss ways for small businesses to make themselves attractive loan candidates.

“It was very helpful, very informative,” said Fazli, who is thinking about adding to her company’s fleet of town cars, limousines and luxury sport utility vehicles, and would need a loan to do it.

Across Antioch and throughout the region, small businesses are bracing for a drawn-out recession, and the five-week Business 911 series is one way the chamber is trying to help employers cope.

Delving into topics like finding alternative funding sources and solving human resource dilemmas, the sessions aim to help local companies weather the storm and plan for a comeback once the clouds pass.

“There is nobody who isn’t feeling it,” she said. “It’s to what degree are they prepared, and how are they going to come out of it.”

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