Administrator Linda McMahon, the head of the U.S. Small Business Administration, has selected the Ohio Small Business Development Center at The Hamilton Mill as the National SBDC of the Year. The Ohio-based SBDC competed against nearly 1,000 SBDCs nationwide. Center Director David Riggs and his team at The Hamilton Mill SBDC will attend an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. on April 30 – May 1, as part of the 2017 National Small Business Week ceremony.
The announcement came on National SBDC Day, March 22, 2017, which is dedicated to the nation’s largest business assistance network. Since 1980, America’s SBDCs have helped aspiring and emerging small business owners achieve the American dream of entrepreneurship.
“Our SBDCs are key to small business success,” said SBA’s Columbus District Director Ricardo Garcia. “Through them, Ohio’s 900,000 small businesses are able to grow, leading a strong, local economy.”
Ohio’s SBDCs are funded in partnership with the SBA, the Ohio Development Services Agency, higher education institutions and private donations. With 26 SBDCs in Ohio, entrepreneurs have easy access to no-cost business training and consulting to help their small businesses grow.
“Small business is the backbone of Ohio’s economy,” said Ohio DSA Director David Goodman. “We are proud to acknowledge our partners at The Hamilton Mill SBDC for going above and beyond to support Ohio small businesses and entrepreneurs.”
David Riggs and his team at the Ohio SBDC at The Hamilton Mill have consistently exceeded program goals. In 2015, the Ohio SBDC at The Hamilton Mill conducted a total of 1,109 consulting hours, helping small businesses generate more than $2.8 million in new sales, creating 115 jobs and retaining 187 jobs.
The SBDC also served 98 individual long-term clients and connected companies to $3,036,099 in capital infusion. Riggs attributes the SBDC’s success to working closely with Butler County’s chambers of commerce, in addition to partnering with the region H-7 Connect network.
“My team and I are honored to accept this award,” he said. “Our center is committed to the mission of accelerating Ohio’s economy by helping people start, sustain and grow their businesses.”
Nationally, SBDC clients start a new business every 30 minutes, create a new job every five minutes, generate $100,000 in new sales every 7.5 minutes, and raise $100,000 in capital every 11.4 minutes. Job growth for SBDC clients is nearly 10 times greater than job growth for average businesses, and SBDC client sales growth is nearly four times greater than sales growth for businesses in general.
Overall in 2016, America’s SBDCs provided 1.3 million hours of consulting to 192,205 client businesses, resulting in 100,233 jobs created; $6.9 billion in sales growth; $4.6 billion in capital investments; and 17,864 new businesses started.
Find your local SBDC today!