Small Business Opportunity Week celebrates small businesses, creates connections and expands opportunities for growth. This week, Amber Batchelor’s story offers an example of that work in action: a Georgia business leader using the connections and practical preparation gained through a business development program to pursue a significant contracting opportunity.
For small businesses pursuing corporate and government contracts, having the technical expertise to do the work is only part of the equation. Businesses positioned to compete for larger opportunities must also demonstrate operational readiness, strong systems, strategic partnerships and the capacity to scale.
Amber Batchelor, IOM, Founder, CEO and Managing Partner of Batchelor & Bradley Insights Group, LLC, experienced that firsthand after participating in the 2026 Community Business Development Program.
Batchelor entered the program with considerable professional expertise and an established business. What she wanted to strengthen was the infrastructure behind the work.
“Our greatest challenge wasn’t expertise, it was scalability,” Batchelor said. “We had the experience, technical capabilities, and client results. What we wanted to strengthen were the systems that demonstrate organizational capacity to corporate and government clients.”
The program, which Batchelor learned about through Vanessa Lane, Executive Director of the Georgia Education Foundation, focused on practical business fundamentals that matter in today’s procurement environment. Participants examined operational systems, financial management, technology, governance, risk management, supply chain readiness and leadership infrastructure.
For Batchelor, one of the most important lessons was that procurement readiness extends well beyond preparing a strong proposal.
Larger clients need confidence that a business can perform once a contract is awarded. That means having documented processes, quality controls, financial and operational discipline, and a clear strategy for adding capacity when needed.
The program also changed Batchelor’s approach to partnerships. Rather than viewing teaming relationships as something developed for an individual project, she began treating strategic collaboration as part of the organization’s long-term growth strategy.
“The program reinforced that scalable organizations are built through collaboration, not competition,” she said.
That lesson quickly moved from the classroom to a real opportunity.
Batchelor also serves as Co-Founder and President of Destination Must Visit® Tourism Alliance Incorporated. Working with founder Carolyn E. Howell, the organization assembled a team of nationally recognized professionals with experience in destination marketing, convention sales, sports tourism, public relations, hospitality, technology and organizational strategy.
The collaborative approach helped position Destination Must Visit® to secure an approximately $2.4 million agreement to serve as the Destination Marketing Organization for the City of College Park, Georgia.
Under the agreement, the organization is responsible for destination marketing, convention and meeting sales, sports tourism development, stakeholder engagement, public relations, strategic planning, visitor experience initiatives, tourism programming and performance measurement designed to increase visitation and generate economic impact.
Batchelor says the result was about more than winning a contract. It demonstrated the value of preparing an organization before a major opportunity arrives.
Following the program, she strengthened internal procedures, procurement documentation, proposal development and governance practices. She expanded the company’s advisory team to include legal counsel, accounting professionals and specialized subject matter experts. She also incorporated artificial intelligence into research, strategic planning, marketing, information management and other business functions.
The experience offers a lesson for Georgia’s small business community. Growth requires more than selling additional services. Businesses preparing to compete at higher levels must invest in the infrastructure that allows them to deliver at higher levels.
That includes governance, technology, financial management, documentation, partnerships and leadership systems that can meet the demands of increasingly complex engagements.
For Batchelor, that distinction is what made the Community Business Development Program different. “Many programs focus on motivation,” she said. “The Community Business Development Program focused on execution.”
The message for Georgia businesses pursuing their next major opportunity is clear: preparation should begin before a solicitation is released. Businesses can build the systems, relationships and capacity they will need well before the opportunity arrives.
The Community Business Development Program is now seeking participants for its 2027 class. For more information and to apply by October 16, 2026, visit www.georgiaeducationfoundation.org.
The Georgia Education Foundation and the Community Business Development Program are initiatives of the Georgia Business Council.
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