BELHAVEN — Beaufort County Community College’s Small Business Center recently helped a local entrepreneur open a business, meeting a small need in a local community.

Donald Collins, who opened A.J.’s Small Engine Repair in Belhaven three months ago, enrolled in small-engine repair courses through the college’s Division of Continuing Education Community Partnerships Program, said Lentz Stowe, director of the center.

Collins said he moved to Belhaven from Hyde County where he worked in the marine construction industry. He decided to enroll in the courses after a suggestion from Julian Goff, a Belhaven resident and a member of the BCCC Board of Trustees, he said. Goff encouraged Collins, who had a background in automobile repairs, to take the courses.

According to a BCCC press release, Belhaven was in need of a business dedicated to repairing lawn mowers, weed eaters and other small engines. Community leaders realized Belhaven residents and those living in neighboring Hyde County would not have to travel all the way to Washington to get their equipment repaired if such a business existed.

“Donald Collins is an excellent example of the type of entrepreneurship we need to promote in eastern North Carolina,” Stowe said. “The community recognized an unmet need in his community and he created his own job to meet that need.”

Collins said he found the transition to small engine repair easy after learning from his instructor Tom Rogers and fellow students. After obtaining the required skills, he then turned to the college’s Small Business Center, and its director Lentz Stowe, in hopes of opening his own business.

Stowe said he helped Collins enroll in the center’s Entrepreneurial Core Curriculum of classes and worked closely with him to formulate a business plan through instruction, ranging from small business financing to advertising, marketing and record keeping.

“He was thinking about opening his own business in the Belhaven area and once he found out there was a small business center through the encouragement of some folks who were kind of guiding him, he ended up inquiring to becoming a client of the center,” Stowe said. “We met and we basically did what we do with folks who are pre-venture. We gave him a lot of resources for startup.”

Collins said, since opening his business he has had a steady stream of customers. He has learned what to charge for his service, where to locate a reliable supply of parts for the repairs and other specifics that fit his business plan.

“Almost every day, someone brings me something,” Collins said. “I see it as a chance to achieve success and improve the life of my family. I’m working for myself, and I know every morning when I wake up, I have work to do.”

Stowe said Collins has access to seminars and counseling offered through the center to answer questions that correlate to his business plan. The center at BCCC helps small businesses like Collins’ survive, prosper and contribute to the economic well being of the area. It provides a variety of seminars and workshops, one-on-one counseling, a library of resources and referrals to other sources at no cost to clients or attendees, Stowe said.

“He’s still very early stage, but we are trying to get him as many resources as possible,” Stowe said. “He has established a location and learned how things operate in a practical and operational way. At this time he pretty much has a daily workload. He is taking steps toward a more formalized business plan, which will help him in terms of being a road map for success.

“The beauty of what he is trying to do and has done, at this juncture, is create his own job. In essence, that is what we want to do in terms of spurring an entrepreneurial community. Someone like him, or a person who is willing to do this, should be celebrated and applauded.”