City Launches Online Business Resource Center

Monrovia launched an Online Business Resource Center last week designed to make it easier for new businesses to get started in the city and navigate the entitlement process.

The site also acts as a sales pitch to new businesses with resource topics like "Bring Your Business to Monrovia" and "Why Monrovia." Business-owners can log on and find information about city incentives, green business policies, and the latest on redevelopment.

"“We hope that our business community will visit the website and get the message out that we are business-friendly, and are ready to assist in anyway possible,” said Lauren Vasquez, a redevelopment specialist with the city, in a prepared statement.

The business growth section of the site includes information on how to find bigger spaces to lease or buy in town, contacts for project managers and city staff, and information on CEO roundtables and cooperative marketing programs developed by the city.

The site also features a business blog called "My Monrovia Business," which will include "regular posts about new businesses, profiles on business owners and posts on current event that may impact our business community," according to a news release from the city.

Karin Crehan, executive director of the Monrovia Chamber of Commerce, said the the city presented the idea at the chamber's last luncheon and it was met with an enthusiastic response.

"(We) all thought it was a really good move for Monrovia," Crehan said.

Keeping businesses--especially small businesses--informed of the entitlement process has been a central mission of the chamber, and the resource center will effectively serve as a "concierge service" for new businesses, Crehan said. Part of the city's approach includes pairing up new business owners with a staff member throughout the approval process, Crehan said.

"They actually can have a person walk them through the whole process to get them up and running as soon as possible," she said.

Already known for , the city hopes that the resource center will create a "one-stop shop" for the business community.

"Sifting through the entitlement processes associated with opening and growing a business can be a complex, overwhelming and time consuming. Our hope in designing the website was to create a user friendly guide to help the businesses through the process with ease," wrote Vasquez.

The business resource center sprang out of a Monrovia Redevelopment Agency plan to focus on retaining and attracting businesses. The future of the MRA remains in flux as the city to keep the agency alive. Final approval of that plan is expected to come later this month.