Event Recap: SBDC Day 2022

Small Business Development Center Officials and Strategic Partners Gather to Celebrate Successes

SBDC Day: Celebrating Delaware’s Small Business Development Center

The Delaware Small Business Development Center is one of many SBDC organizations celebrating “SBDC Day” in mid-March. Across the country, all the SBDCs take time to acknowledge their staff, clients, and strategic partners that have helped small businesses grow and succeed over the last year. This year was especially exciting, as we returned to in-person events and are able to spend time face-to-face with members of our incredible network!

Across the State, the SBDC is proud to serve entrepreneurs in virtually every industry throughout their business journey. From pre-venture ideas to businesses with 500 employees, our team is ready to help at any stage. The SBDC offers a variety of training, webinars, and events in addition to no-cost expert advising – in the last two years alone, we have trained or counseled almost 11,000 entrepreneurs and assisted with 93 new business starts. SBDC Day is a time to reflect on our work over the last few years – we are proud to have supported almost 6,500 jobs through what has been an especially challenging period for businesses. All over the country, entrepreneurs have begun adjusting business plans, retaining and re-training employees, and adapting to the COVID-19 crisis – in Delaware alone, the SBDC has helped small businesses secure over $14 Million in relief funding.

For more about SBDC work all over the country, and for top client success stories from Delaware, visit the ASBDC Annual Report, found here: https://www.sbdcimpact.org/de

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WHEN THE DELAWARE SBDC WINS, WE ALL WIN

Our Community Navigator Program, powered by the U.S. Small Business Administration, will bring $2.5 Million to Delaware as we establish a new “hub-and-spoke” system of support for historically underserved entrepreneurs and communities. Collaborating with a number of partner “spoke” organizations across the State, this program will serve as a national model for small business support.

We look forward to collaborating with our spokes to deliver training, advising, and events that will guide, educate, and support entrepreneurs and small business owners. Our spokes include the Delaware Division of Small Business, Delaware Office of Supplier Diversity, Delaware Main Street Network, Delaware Hispanic Commission, Independent Resources, Inc., Delaware Black Chamber of Commerce, Delaware State University, and United Way of Delaware.

Learn more about our Community Navigator Program at https://navigatede.org/

Special initiatives, like our Navigator and CARES Act programs, bring much-needed resources to our state and expand our ability to employ a diverse vendor base. As a result of these special initiatives, our spend with local, small, and minority-owned businesses is expected to exceed $800,000. We are also proud to contribute back to our host, the University of Delaware, with over $500,000 in operational and program support for the Office of Economic Innovation and Partnerships and Horn Entrepreneurship’s Lead Mentor Program.

For more on our impact, please visit https://www.dsbdcimpact.org/ to view our Performance Report.

DID YOU VISIT OUR Client Corner?

Check out our official Client Corner Page, our Performance Report, and the ASBDC Report to read the stories we found inspiring this year – click through at your own pace!

Across those three platforms, you’ll find the following stories: