The TOPEKA INDEPENDENT BUSINESS ASSOCIATION (www.topekaiba.org) is organized to promote the formation, growth, and viability of small and independently owned businesses in the Topeka area.
TIBA is modeled after the Wichita Independent Business Association (www.WIBA.org) which began in 1931. WIBA is an association of privately owned businesses, mostly in the Wichita area. Currently, there are over 1,350 business members representing over 250 industries, including over 300 self-employed and home-based businesses. WIBA is highly successful and influential, and is credited with the strong tradition of entrepreneurship in Wichita. WIBA has done started new groups before. They helped start a clone of WIBA in Lincoln, Nebraska. It now has about 1,000 members.
TIBA's focus will be local, then state, then national, whereas NFIB (National Federation of Independent Business) is national, then state, with no local. TIBA will serve only members in the Shawnee County area. TIBA, NFIB, and WIBA will be close allies.
TIBA is for independent businesses only, not publicly-traded businesses, whereas the Topeka Chamber is dominated by big businesses and many non-businesses. The huge majority of TIBA members will have fewer than twenty employees.
One of TIBA's main objectives is to help its members find viable business health insurance options. The Topeka Chamber has no health insurance offerings or assistance for its members.
TIBA belongs to and supports the Topeka Chamber, and will work closely with them on issues affecting independent businesses and small businesses.
In poll after poll, the availability and costs of health insurance are the top concern of owners of small businesses. For the smallest of businesses, choices are extremely limited and some of the choices offer poor coverage or are risky.
The payoffs for the medium to large small business owners is the political influence that TIBA will wield, the improvement of the Topeka health care market and costs, helping their customers who happen to be small businesses and small non-profits, and helping the local economy by creating a genuinely healthy small business environment. Startups of new businesses are perhaps the most vital element of economic growth, followed closely by growth of existing ones. When the smallest of businesses can get insurance, more of them survive.
Because of costs, e-mail is the main method of communication, with fax as a secondary method. The TIBA website, www.topekaiba.org, is another key. Regular mail will be used for dues billings, but not for much else.
TIBA's Board of Directors directs the organization with plenty of input from the members through votes and surveys. TIBA has a part-time staff now, but will have full-time staff when it is practical.
Daniel, through his business, has been a member of WIBA for a number of years, and has worked hand-in-hand with WIBA in his role as a state NFIB volunteer leader. Daniel recruited Hood for this project. They are both long-time YMCA board members and volunteers, and became friends there.
Construction firms, especially subcontractors, are traditionally underrepresented in local chambers of commerce, and a large percentage of them don't offer health benefits to their employees.
TIBA
P.O. Box 1403
Topeka, KS 66601-1403
783-2897
tiba@topekaiba.org
Sharon DuBois
783-2897
sharon.dubois@topekaiba.org
Ken Daniel
232-4590 x205
kdaniel@midwaywholesale.com