Decorah business owner selected for Goldman Sachs business program

Decorah business owner Dan Bellrichard, the owner and founder of Sogo Snacks, is one of 37 Iowans selected for the first Iowa class of "Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses," a program to help business owners enhance their business knowledge and grow their companies.
 
Bellrichard is completing advanced coursework at Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) and online. The three-month Small Businesses program covers everything from identifying growth opportunities, refining operations processes, marketing and selling, understanding and using financial statements, and leadership training.  Northeast Iowa Community College recruited Bellrichard for the Goldman Sachs program.
 
Sogo Snacks, the business Bellrichard manages with his wife, Liza, is a healthy meat snacks distributing company that serves predominantly online consumers in urban areas, such as Texas, California, Florida and Washington state.  Said Bellrichard, "Sogo Snacks caters to busy families and busy people who like beef sticks, but have an interest in a more healthy version. Our customer base tends to originate from large urban areas." The company currently employs five part-time staff members.
 
A 2001 graduate of Luther College, Bellrichard served as a small business development volunteer for the Peace Corps in Mali, West Africa, from 2001 until 2003. "My work in the Peace Corps has had a profound impact on my life," he said.
 
The Goldman Sachs program is providing the individualized business development instruction he needs to grow and enhance his company.
 
"I have had no formal business training, so this program is helping me to develop a growth opportunity for Sogo Snacks and really analyze it, and the risks and benefits associated with business growth," Bellrichard said. "The Babson College curriculum that is used in the program is giving me the foundational tools needed to grow and implement new ideas."
 
Since the inception of the national program, 67 percent of alumni report increased revenues six months after graduating and 47 percent report hiring employees during the same time period.