Mission and History
Mission Statement
The mission of the ASU Small Business Development Center is to help small businesses start, grow and prosper by providing entrepreneurs with the education, information and tools necessary to build successful businesses.
We accomplish these goals through the counseling, technical assistance, training seminars and workshops, advocacy, research studies, resource information and coordination with the U.S. Small Business Administration and other community business support services.
These activities result in:
- Improved performance of small business clients.
- Enhanced economic growth within the service areas.
- Increased success rate for start-up businesses.
- More jobs created.
History and Achievements
The Angelo State University Small Business Development Center (ASU-SBDC), in operation since 1990, has celebrated its 15th anniversary. The SBDC has achieved many milestones since it's opening 15 years ago. Harlan Bruha, instructor in Business Administration became the first SBDC Director. The center had only one other employee who served as the Small Business Development Center. The center relied on the College of Business professor's to share their wealth of knowledge and expertise in areas such as finance, accounting and marketing when called upon. The center held eight seminars their first year. The first seminar was "How to Successfully Start a Mail Order Business" which was a hot topic at the time. Currently the SBDC center conducts approximately 52 + seminars per year offering a variety of current business topics for small business owners.
Our counselors are certified business advisors in such areas as marketing, human resources, financial analysis, business planning, financing and others, helping small businesses across the Concho Valley to grow and expand.
During fiscal year 2004, the staff of the ASU-SBDC assisted 524 businesses in the Concho Valley area with approximately 2,785 hours of counseling. Of these clients, approximately 73% were pre-venture and 27% were existing businesses looking to expand or improve their business in some way. Also in fiscal year 2004, the center conducted 51 seminars and workshops on topics pertinent to small business including, start-up, planning, marketing, human resources, and accounting and bookkeeping to name only a few. Please click on the "seminars" tab to view our seminar schedule for the current quarter. We only ask you to call and register your name so we can ensure there is enough information provided for all in attendance.
The ASU-SBDC consultation helped local businesses grow at more than twice the rate of the average United States business. Additionally, ASU-SBDC staff was responsible for assisting clients in obtaining loans totaling approximately $1 million, creating 51 jobs and saving an estimated 59 jobs.
Thank you for your interest in the Small Business Development Center. Should you have any questions, require any additional information, or have any suggestions on how we might improve our services, please do not hesitate to contact the SBDC office.
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