Kevin Guillory, office coordinator for the Louisiana Entrepreneurship and Economic Development Center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, spoke with Jan Swift of the Discover Lafayette podcast about his organization’s efforts to assist start-up companies and create jobs in Acadiana.

You can listen to their conversation here.

LEED offers technical assistance to startups and held three six-week regional programs — Accelerate Northside, Accelerate Evangeline and Accelerate St. Landry — to assist in creating business plans, obtaining loans, understanding finances, attracting customers, and staying in business.

A grant from the U. S. Economic Development Administration in economic adjustment assistance funding to UL funded the majority of the courses, necessitating only a $25 payment by participants, Guillory said. LEED partnered with several groups for the project, including the Lafayette Economic Development Authority, the Greater Southwest Black Chamber of Commerce, One Acadiana, the McComb Veazey coterie, the NAACP, Acadiana Workforce Solutions, the Lafayette Public Library and the Louisiana Procurement Technical Assistance Center.

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