WASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2018 -- America's Small Business Development Centers (SBDC), SBDC leaders, advisors, clients, partners and stakeholders gathered for the fourth annual 2018 Client Showcase and Reception on Tuesday, February 13th on Capitol Hill. Representative Steve Chabot of Ohio, Chairman of the Committee on Small Business and Representative Nydia Velazquez of New York and Ranking Member of the Committee on Small Business addressed the reception guests. The America's SBDC Network showcased 11 SBDC clients from across the country. The SBDC clients were Alt Ethos (Colorado), Dignitas Technologies (Florida), Gross-Wen Technologies, Inc. (Iowa), WaterStep (Ohio), Tadpole LLC (Louisiana), Kepley Biosystems, Inc. (North Carolina), Play Impossible (Pennsylvania), S2S Surgical (Rhode Island), Taste Elevated (Texas), Whooshh Innovations (Washington), and MobCraft Beer (Wisconsin).
The 63 state and regional Small Business Development Center Networks provide free one-on-one consulting to small businesses through nearly 1,000 locations. Job growth for SBDC clients is nearly 10 times greater than job growth for average businesses, and SBDC client sales growth is nearly 4 times greater than sales growth for businesses in general.
According to data provided by the Small Business Administration (SBA), every federal dollar spent on the SBDC network helped small businesses access $43.50 in new capital. In 2016, SBDC clients started a new business every 30 minutes, created a new job every 5.5 minutes and generated $100,000 in new sales every 10 minutes. Small businesses are job creators and innovators. Supporting their formation and growth moves our economy forward and makes our communities healthier.