Businesses have always celebrated ribbon cuttings, grand openings and company anniversaries, and for a second year they’ll be able to celebrate the people who help them turn their dreams into reality – Small Business Development Centers. America’s SBDC Day is set for March 21, 2018, a day that will unite nearly 1,000 SBDCs across the country and the hundreds of thousands of clients they’ve served in their over 30-year history.
SBDC Day is a national proclamation of the success of America’s Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) and of the success of our nation’s dreamers, innovators and doers – America’s small businesses.
“It’s great to see SBDCs, their clients and supporters come together to celebrate SBDCs and their amazing clients. With SBDC support small businesses around the country raised over $5 billion in capital and created nearly 100,000 jobs,” said Charles “Tee” Rowe, President & CEO of America’s SBDC.
America’s SBDC network is a partnership that includes the U.S. Congress, SBA, the private sector, and the colleges, universities and state governments that manage SBDCs across the nation. SBDCs provide management and technical assistance to an estimated one million small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs each year. Since 1980, 63 state and regional Small Business Development Center networks have provided free one-on-one consulting to small businesses at nearly 1,000 locations throughout the nation. A new business is opened with the assistance of the SBDC around the country every 30 minutes; a new job is created every 5.5 minutes; more than $100,000 in new sales are generated every 8.2 minutes, and small businesses are able to obtain more than $100,000 in capital every 10 minutes.
Locally, the Small Business Development Center at Jamestown Community College was established in 1986 and provides free confidential consulting services to new and existing small businesses in Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany Counties in management, access to capital, marketing and regulatory compliance. In 2017, the SBDC at JCC consulted with 388 local small businesses resulting in 130 jobs created, 85 jobs saved and $8.2 million in funding/investments for local business growth.
The SBDC at Jamestown Community College recently partnered with the Center for Continuing Education to launch an online learning platform for entrepreneurs – the Small Business Academy – providing workshops, courses and non-credit certificates in a variety of topics benefiting small businesses. To date the online academy has seen over 770 enrollments in social media marketing, succession planning, and intellectual property classes. Continued growth is expected as new courses in video marketing, taxation, bookkeeping and business formation are added this year. Irene Dobies, Director of the SBDC at JCC explains, “We know how busy small business owners are and how difficult it can be to get away during the day to attend classes. The online Small Business Academy offers busy business owners the opportunity to learn new skills and techniques to grow their businesses from the convenience of their own computer, on their own schedule.”
Small businesses, partners, and advocates are invited to help spread the word about SBDC Day using the hashtag #SBDCDay. On March 21, participants are encouraged to share how their local SBDC has created a difference in their life and community. SBDCs nationwide will collectively share, in real time, the success stories and notable impacts SBDCs collectively have on the small business community at large.