PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (May 6, 2021) – For the past five years, America’s SBDC, an association representing the country’s nationwide network of Small Business Development Centers, has celebrated SBDC Day. This year’s event included a local angle: Brian Rowland, mayor of Prairie View. He issued a proclamation that extended recognition specifically to the Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) SBDC.
The proclamation lists accomplishments of the PVAMU SBDC over the past five years, including a client list numbering more than 350 people, offering assistance in the launch of 29 new businesses and “helping small business with the approval of $4,723 million of capital infusion, where 97 new jobs were created in Grimes and Waller County.”
“All true,” said Jasmin Espy, a former program assistant who was recently promoted to interim director of the SBDC. She said there are also exciting developments in its efforts to help the immediate PVAMU community.
“We’re here for students,” said Espy, noting that students represent 15-30% of the Center’s client base. “What they need and how they need it varies, and it can be a little bit of a challenge because sometimes students are looking to jump in quickly, and sometimes they need to stop because of finals. But they often have really good ideas, and we’re here with applicable tools for them.”
Students, Espy said, offer a lot of possibilities and have a very different level of excitement. They can benefit greatly from the experiential knowledge the SBDC’s advisors provide, as a balance to the largely theoretical knowledge gleaned from the classroom. “They get to work with someone who has had business experience and has had access to tools that the students themselves wouldn’t get at the university.”
To students and the community at large, the PVAMU SBDC provides free business consulting and affordable training seminars, performs assessments and helps would-be business owners put together solid business plans. It is a business advising and training center a part of the University of Houston Texas Gulf Coast SBDC Network, which serves 32 counties in Southeast Texas. The SBDC program is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U. S. Small Business Administration.
“The sweet spot for SBDCs is start-ups,” she said. “We help with business plans, funding resources, access to capital, loan proposals and marketing, and the research data is amazing. And it’s better than just pulling it from a library because when you work with us, you’ve got an advisor that helps you take the data and apply it appropriately to a business plan or your metrics, and things like that. It is such a gift.”
The mayor’s proclamation comes after a year of many challenges caused or exacerbated by the pandemic, and they were overcome with “tenacity and resilience,” in Espy’s words. The mayor’s acknowledgment of the local SBDC’s efforts couldn’t have come at a better time, or in other words — for a better target.
“The university, through the SBDC, is supporting business, as students’ ideas are brought to launch and have an economic impact on the community,” Espy said. “He has seen the Center take the beat to the street.”
By Andrew Cohen
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