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One-on-One Business Counseling PDF Print E-mail

Quality business assistance is important to any business owner. At CEI, we know that, which is why we provide targeted support to many sectors in Maine, along with general business assistance for any small business in the state. The links on the left will provide you with more specific information about the services we offer. You will also find relevant contact information.

To keep you and your business in touch with the information age, we also offer website and e-commerce workshops.

As always, you can receive general business counseling from any one of our Maine Small Business Development Centers located throughout the state.

 

 

CEI IN THE NEWS!

The results are in! Learn what the evaluation of the Farms for the Future disclosed ... 

Ron Phillips, President of CEI, speaks on public television’s “Conversations with Maine.” 

ImageMaine Legislature Passes Model Anti-Predatory Lending Bill.

Review LD 1869 here.

Predatory Mortgages in Maine Recent Trends and the Persistence of Abusive Lending Practices. A joint report issued by Coastal Enterprises, Inc. and the Center for Responsible Lending, 2006.

CEI receives SCED award for CED excellence. 

Announcing the publication, Telling Their Stories: Women Business Owners in Western Maine 

Read about NMTC's $120 million allocation to CEI.

CEI worked with a broad coalition to get the Office of Consumer Credit Regulations to study the impacts of payday lending.   

The Maine Working Waterfront Coalition works to help save commercial fishing access properties.

AM Wood Designs LLC - Finding the Right Help

In Bingham, Maine, population 856, the forest products industry used to be the major source of employment. But over the past two decades, the community has seen jobs go oversees or vanish altogether. When Richard Casey lost his job, he wanted to stay in Bingham, his home for twenty-five years. Working at AM Wood Designs
In 2000, when he began looking for funds to start his own unfinished pine furniture company, CEI was there to help pull together a loan package with local banks and other economic development agencies.Casey converted a vacant mill into a manufacturing plant, purchased equipment and began operating. Later, when AM Wood Designs began to struggle with low margins and inefficient production, CEI's PACT project helped pay for extensive training in lean manufacturing. The training helped Casey realize he'd have to remake the company in order to survive.

The Maine Small Business Development Center at CEI helped Casey plan for change and better his chances of finding an investor. It took three years, some hard choices, and the efforts of many, but AM Wood Designs is turning around. Casey found Anania and Associates which made major investments in operations and marketing. They dropped unprofitable lines, added higher margin products, and are doing more with the same number of employees. Now AM Wood Designs boasts a line of charming cedar gazebos.

"Without PACT and CEI, we wouldn't be here", says Casey. At every turn, CEI was there with the right resources - capital, training grants, and management assistance.
36 Water Street, PO Box 268, Wiscasset, ME 04578; Telephone: 207/882-7552; FAX: 207/882-7308; E-mail: cei@ceimaine.org