GROW SMART / EXIT SMART

Part I: Growing Smart - Navigating Systems, Strategy, and Scale

Led by Mark Collier, Senior Business Consultant and faculty member with the University of Georgia Small Business Development Center, the first half of the workshop reframes how entrepreneurs view growth.

Rather than treating the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) as a bureaucratic hurdle, Collier positions it as a strategic infrastructure - a powerful, underutilized ecosystem designed to fuel business expansion, capability development, and long-term sustainability.

Drawing from his 20-year career in capital project management and his direct experience within SBA systems , Collier delivers a structured, highly practical framework that moves participants from awareness to execution.

Entrepreneurs are guided through:

· The architecture of the SBA - understanding where decisions are made and how to access them

· The strategic alignment of resources - matching SBA programs to specific stages of business growth

· The readiness equation - ensuring businesses are positioned with the credibility, structure, and operational discipline required to secure funding, contracts, and advisory support

· The execution pathway - translating federal resources into tangible business outcomes

Participants leave this portion of the session with more than knowledge, they leave with a roadmap for leveraging one of the most powerful yet misunderstood systems available to small businesses.

Part II: Exiting Smart - Designing the Endgame from Day One

Where Collier focuses on building the engine, Adam Soyah challenges participants to think about where that engine is ultimately going.

With over three decades of entrepreneurial experience, scaling multiple companies to over $20 million in revenue and successfully navigating acquisitions by multi-billion-dollar firms. Soyah brings a perspective that only comes from having built, scaled, and exited at a high level .

Soyah’s journey, from immigrant beginnings in Tunisia to executive leadership in the U.S. anchors his approach in discipline, resilience, and intentionality. His framework challenges entrepreneurs to rethink their role, not just as operators, but as architects of long-term value.

Participants explore:

· Exit as Strategy, Not Event - Understanding that valuation, transferability, and scalability must be built into the business early

· Systems Over Personality - Creating organizations that can thrive without the founder

· Leadership Through Delegation and Structure - Empowering teams and institutionalizing processes

· Multiple Exit Pathways - Succession, acquisition, and legacy transfer

Through his work with Soyah Group Consulting and his leadership roles across industry and community organizations, Soyah emphasizes that businesses built for exit are also businesses built for strength, clarity, and sustainability.

The Integrated Insight: Build to Grow. Grow to Exit. Exit to Win.

What makes this workshop uniquely powerful is not just the expertise of each facilitator, but the intentional integration of their perspectives.

· Collier provides the infrastructure for intelligent growth

· Soyah provides the blueprint for intentional exit

Together, they offer a full-spectrum view of the entrepreneurial lifecycle, one that encourages business owners to:

· Build with structure and foresight

· Scale with strategy and discipline

· Exit with clarity and maximum value

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Oglethorpe University, 4484 Peachtree Road Northeast, Brookhaven, United States

Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.

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