Our Approach to Business Assistance

Business assistance is available in all areas of start-up and operations.

Based on your company’s unique needs, you will progress through a combination of private consultations with a Certified Business Advisor and group information sessions, both tailored to help you build strength in critical areas. You also may work with graduate students who have special expertise that fits your company’s needs.

For business information , examples of forms , financial resources , business contacts in each county we serve and other resources, we direct you to our On-line Resource section.

There you will also find a complete, self-paced business workshop for people who are in the concept stage of starting a business. This program – Basis of a Successful Start , or BOSS, -- gives you all the fundamentals of starting up and helps you decide if the time, your concept, your resources and the marketplace are right for your business idea.

Regularly, we offer workshops throughout the region on topics that our clients have identified as most critical. These include Managing Better by the Numbers.

We also share space with the Procurement Technical Assistance Center , or PTAC, which can help you land contracts with local, state and federal government.

For the convenience of area companies, we also have a network of satellite offices, which are staffed at lease once a week by a Certified Business Advisor.

In addition, our affiliation with the Appalachian Regional Enreprenreurship Group (AREG) adds another level of technical assistance for businesses and, for companies with high-growth potential, the benefits of AREI’s partnership with Adena Ventures .

Small Businesses...

Represent more than 99.7 percent of all employersEmploy more than half of all private sector employees.

Generate 60 to 80 percent of net new jobs annually.

Pay 44.5 percent of total U.S. private payroll.

Made up 97 percent of all identified exporters and produced 29 percent of the known export value in FY 2001.

Produce 13 to 14 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms.

Created three-quarters of U.S. net new jobs (2.5 million of the 3.4 million total) in 1999-2000.

TOPICS

B.O.S.S ( Basis of a successful start )

Entrepreneurs

Developing your Marketing Plan

Creating financial projects

Voinovich School, Building 20, The Ridges, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701 · 740–593-1797

The Small Business Development Center of Ohio (SBDC) program is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. The SBDC program is also funded in part by the Ohio Department of Development. All opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA. Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities will be made if requested at least two weeks in advance. Contact (name, address, and phone number of person who will make the arrangements).