A Gloucester program targeted at assisting small business owners is proving very popular, according to Linda Evans, the county’s economic development coordinator.

Evans said that a consultant has seen 165 businesses since the county began funding the program in 2012. Jim Carroll, the consultant, is executive director of the Hampton Roads Small Business Development Center.

The Gloucester County Board of Supervisors has appropriated $5,000 each year since 2012 to provide business aid, Evans said, and the program here has grown from a few businesses taking part in the early months to Carroll’s once-a-month visits to Gloucester now regularly showing a full slate of four to six businesses.

The program is set up to offer private and confidential business planning, financial analysis and management consulting on the fourth Thursday of each month at the Gloucester Library, Evans said, but Carroll has been receiving—and accepting—more requests to go to clients’ ...