ALT.CONSULTING AND EMERGEMEMPHIS COLLABORATE TO STRENGTHEN ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT FOR MEMPHIS SMALL BUSINESSES

alt.Consulting, a Memphis-based social mission-driven management consulting firm, has formed a collaboration with EmergeMemphis, an entrepreneurial business development initiative. This alliance allows alt.Consulting to provide high quality technical assistance to both on-site and off-site Emerge clients at affordable rates. In this partnership effort, alt.Consulting has located its main office at the EmergeMemphis Building in the South Main Historic District of downtown Memphis.

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ALT.CONSULTING AND EMERGEMEMPHIS COLLABORATE TO STRENGTHEN ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT FOR MEMPHIS SMALL BUSINESSES

October 16, 2002

alt.Consulting, a Memphis-based social mission-driven management consulting firm, has formed a collaboration with EmergeMemphis, an entrepreneurial business development initiative. This alliance allows alt.Consulting to provide high quality technical assistance to both on-site and off-site Emerge clients at affordable rates. In this partnership effort, alt.Consulting has located its main office at the EmergeMemphis Building in the South Main Historic District of downtown Memphis.

EmergeMemphis is a not-for-profit economic development initiative offering business counsel, financial oversight, business networking and mentoring, and low overhead shared office services to entrepreneurs. Launched in the summer of 2000, Emerge moved to its permanent home at 516 Tennessee Street in late January 2002. Current clients include 2binteractive, Inc., Destination King, Extra Large Media, Lan One Solutions, Lick The Toad, Merge Realty, MPact Memphis, RemitData, Ringger, The Diabetes Store, Zoomedia, i-Screen, point2point innovations, and the Executive Leadership Institute.

alt.Consulting, also a not-for-profit, was formed in 1998 to provide consulting services to minority-owned, women-owned, and rural based businesses throughout Tennessee, Arkansas , Mississippi, and the Delta Region . alt.Consulting works to increase the capacity of small businesses and organizations contributing to wealth and fair-wage job creation in minority and rural communities.

While EmergeMemphis is a general purpose" economic development initiative, it also focuses on minority and women-owned businesses, as well as emphasizing the development of early-stage technology companies. Firms participating in the EmergeMemphis program help diversify the Memphis economic base, increase the number of high-wage jobs, create educational opportunities for local citizens, and provide attractive options for local talent that might otherwise be recruited out of Memphis.

The collaboration between alt. Consulting and Emerge provides the platform for a unique combination of assets, talents and services, allowing clients to maximize the benefits received from each organization.
Jonathan Harrison, alt. Managing Director, said "With on-site consulting services, the Emerge client will be able to command a genuine competitive advantage in the marketplace. An important part of our locating at and partnering with Emerge is to more efficiently allocate our mutual assets and position ourselves as the leading learning environment for entrepreneurial development."

Weve now been in our new facility for over six months and our available offices are about three-quarters full, with a strong backlog of prospects and applicants for our resident program," commented EmergeMemphis president Michael Terry. We are now fully ready to leverage on our skills and assets by teaming with the best, most effective, and most dedicated consulting and training resources in the Mid-south." This association with alt.Consulting is an important step in our achieving our goal of being not only a physical office location for entrepreneurs, but a site for learning, training, and education, as well," Terry added.

For further information, contact Jonathan Harrison at alt.Consulting at 901.312.9797 or visit alt.Consulting online at http://www.altconsulting.org.