One of UT Permian Basin's Small-bix.XLR8 training program entrepreneurs is gaining national attention. Priscilla Garcia, owner of SisterDough, was recently featured on Fox Buisness News. Small-bix.XLR8 was a 10 week course offered for free over the summer to small business owners in the Permian Basin in partnership with UT Austin’s IC² Institute.
Priscilla was featured on Fox Business News to discuss being a small business owner and navigating through the pandemic. Priscilla told UT Permian Basin her experience with Small-biz.XLR8 has helped set her up for success.
“Going through the Small-biz.XLR8 program has helped me grow as a small business owner and more importantly, the training made me a lot more confident as a business owner.”
About Small-biz.XLR8:
UT Permian Basin was selected to partner with The University of Texas at Austin for a new training and support program for Texas entrepreneurs. UT Austin’s IC² Institute has created Small-biz.XLR8, a ten-week course designed to meet the needs of small-business owners in Midland, Odessa, and surrounding Permian Basin communities. The program will be offered at no cost to business owners, thanks to a generous gift from the Truist Charitable Fund.
Lead instructor, Dr. Gregory Pogue, noted that Small-biz.XLR8 will “teach essential business growth principles while helping participants form mentor relationships among peers and regional business experts and linking participants to regional funding groups.” He sees this experience as particularly critical for businesses as they emerge from unprecedented pandemic-induced economic downturn. Recent studies point to the profound impact of the pandemic on small business, with ~60% still reporting reduced revenue receipts. 60% have also not restored hiring to pre-pandemic levels. Further, a greater proportion of minority owned businesses report they are likely to shutter compared with white small business owners.
Learn more about the program.
