Grants boost small business-supporting state agency housed in SVSU campus

After recently opening a regional branch on Saginaw Valley State University’s campus, a small business-supporting state agency will receive a boost of its own thanks to $196,000 in grant funding from the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation.

 

The 2-year grant will support the 15 counties serviced by Michigan Small Business Development Center from its SVSU-based branch office.

 

The new office also recently received a $25,000 grant from the Kochville Township Downtown Development Authority as well as a $20,000 grant from Northeast Michigan Council of Governments.

 

“We’re grateful to the Herbert H. & Grace A. Dow Foundation for their generous support,” said J.D. Collins, state director of Michigan Small Business Development Center.

 

“This is the type of generosity that fuels public-private partnerships and drives regional economic development. The support we receive from the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation, Kochville Township Downtown Development Authority and Northeast Michigan Council of Governments enables our team to provide high-quality, no-cost business consulting services.”

 

The support will aid Michigan Small Business Development Center in services that include consulting, training and market research.

 

Beginning in November, SVSU became home to both the Northeast Michigan and Great Lakes Bay regional offices for the Michigan Small Business Development Center, which provides consulting, training and secondary market research for small businesses. The Great Lakes Bay Region-based office previously was located at Delta College.

 

While operations already have begun at its SVSU headquarters, the Michigan Small Business Development Center staff there will move into the building expansion at the university’s Scott L. Carmona College of Business facility later in the winter academic semester. A $25 million, 38,500-square foot expansion was created in part to support regional business-boosting agencies such as the Michigan Small Business Development Center.

 

The SVSU-based Michigan Small Business Development Center office serves small businesses in the counties of Alcona, Alpena, Arenac, Bay, Cheboygan, Crawford, Iosco, Midland, Montmorency, Ogemaw, Oscoda, Otsego, Presque Isle, Roscommon and Saginaw.

 

In those counties, the Michigan Small Business Development Center in 2018 helped 40 new businesses start, helped create or retain 338 jobs, and generated $5.9 million in new capital investment for small business. In total, 590 small businesses were served by the agency in those 15 counties.

 

For more information about the Michigan Small Business Development Center office at SVSU, please call (989) 964-4908 or email SBDC@svsu.edu.

 

About the Michigan Small Business Development Center: The Michigan Small Business Development Center provides consulting, business education, market research and technology commercialization to new and existing businesses throughout Michigan’s 83 counties. Services are available through the support of the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. Entrepreneurs and small business owners may access the services of their nearest Michigan Small Business Development Center office by visiting www.sbdcmichigan.org.