Metro Louisville Funding for SBDC

The Louisville Office of the Kentucky Small Business Development Center (KSBDC) is requesting funding to provide entrepreneur and small business development services. The KSBDC's mission is to assess, assist, and accelerate the high-growth potential of client entrepreneurial ventures, in conjunction with traditional small business service delivery. The KSBDC program is dedicated to providing small businesses and entrepreneurs with quality business consulting, training, information, and technical assistance. The KSBDC is a partnership program with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and is required by SBA to match all federal funding. The University of Kentucky (UK) is the statewide host of the SBDC program and serves as the administrator and funder of the program. All local SBDC offices also seek local financial support. The Louisville SBDC (LSBDC) has achieved considerable success developing strategic partnerships. LSBDC staff attends meetings of the Louisville Metro & GLI Economic Development Departments, SCORE and Enterprisecorp. Our goal is to work together to share and refer clients while offering joint educational programs. Most organizations now are no longer working independently but have learned through the LSBDC's leadership the value of collaboration. The Louisville Small Business Development Center provides free one-on-one counseling to new entrepreneurs and owners of existing businesses. At the core of the Center's service offerings are the four pillars business planning, financing assistance, market research and business start-up support. The Center staff can assist the entrepreneur from idea to the first sale and beyond. Each of the three consultants has unique "keystone" skills and the staff uses a team approach to client assistance. Clients may spend time with each consultant depending on where the client is along his development path or current business needs. The LSBDC provides support and service to the community's existing businesses. Most existing small businesses experiencing growth or faced with growth opportunities need growth capital. The center consultants can help these businesses quickly produce a "loan package" that can be used to submit the financing request to multiple banks in an orderly fashion. This package also includes a deal matrix that allows the CEO to quickly assess the best financing offer. Business planning help is offered for both start-ups and existing businesses with growth plans. The center has robust market analysis and financial modeling tools that are not available to most entrepreneurs. An aggressive training calendar is planned for the upcoming year and we develop and co-produce seminars with SCORE and GLI. These programs allow time for the staff to distribute SBDC brochures, discuss center services and collect contact information. This allows us to increase marketing messages to groups we could not easily access. Revenues are shared among the participating organizations. The center has partnered with SBA, SCORE and the Women's Business Center to provide help for companies facing crisis or foreclosure. BLAST, as the program is known, is a 120 day process that quickly assesses whether the business is viable and outlines a plan of action. This program has received acclaim at the SBA's national conference in Washington. To augment the resources available to clients, the LSBDC has developed relationships with a wide array of organizations and individuals who can assist clients in. " Market research through the University of Kentucky " Local market data is available through Greater Louisville Inc. This info is usually sold to businesses and government agencies but is available to our clients free of charge. " Louisville Free Public library provides patents, trademarks, and RMA data " A key referral partner is Greater Louisville Inc., center staff attends weekly ED client solutions meetings where solutions to current client cases are discussed. Economic Development tools generally only consist of tax incentives and location assistance. By having SBDC staff regularly on hand, clients are offered another project financing option that makes locating a headquarters to Louisville more attractive. The SBDC quickly puts together introductions to local lenders and funding sources as well as assisting in loan packaging if necessary. LSBDC serves a seven county area; however funds are only being requested for the services provided in Jefferson County. Other funds and support are used for the remaining six counties. During 2013 LSBDC served 394 clients in Jefferson County and provided training to an additional 600 residents. Information was provided to an additional 1,200 individuals. The SBDC clients reported acquiring more than 3.4 million in capital for their businesses.