Small Business Counseling
Have a great idea for a product, or starting your own business? Don’t fall behind — learn everything you need to know about creating and maintaining a successful business in Maine! Offered in partnership with MaineStream Finance, our counseling and business technical assistance services are available to Tribal members throughout the state.
Four Directions can help your business thrive. You’ll meet with a business counselor to define your business’s unique needs and goals and start creating a business plan or course of action customized to your business’s industry, market, audience, strengths, or challenges that will help launch or grow your Native-owned business. Counseling is available in individual and group formats, both online and in person.
Economic Recovery HUB program: FDDC is partnered with EMDC and NMDC to offer technical assistance to businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects, which launched after January 1, 2020. If you are a tribal business in Penobscot, Aroostook, Hancock, Piscataquis, Washington, and parts of Waldo County, help is available. FDDC offers free business advising. Grants may be available to offset revenue loss or impacts from inflation and other pandemic-related impacts.
To request more information, please complete our client intake form here.
As part of a nationwide network of Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTACs) and the Maine APEX Accelerator, Four Directions provides training and technical assistance to Tribal Enterprises and Native American-owned businesses throughout Maine so they can find, win, and perform on government contracts. Our partnerships and in-depth knowledge of government contracting gives businesses the tools to sell their goods and services to local, state, and federal governments.
We can help your business to:
- Develop a Capability Statement
- Understand Federal Regulations and Military Specifications
- Prepare for proposals (RFPs, RFQs, etc.)
- Manage Contracts Post Award
- Obtain NAIC, FSC, SIC, etc.
- Bid Match Profile Creation
- Register in System for Award Management (SAM)
- Obtain certification as a DBE, HUBZone, Women-owned and/or Service-Disabled Veteran-owned Small Business
Ready to start growing your business? Contact our small business department today!