GRAND RAPIDS – The Michigan Small Business & Technology Development Center (MI-SBTDC) is a network of 12 Regional and 35 Satellite centers statewide that provide a full range of business development services for small businesses, typically companies between one and 50 employees, ranging from newly emerging companies through existing businesses.

SBTDC is a partner program of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), supported by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and numerous regional hosts, including Mitechnews.Com.

We provide one-on-one sessions with experienced SBTDC business consultants to assist small business owners in building viable business plans, establish strategies for growth and survival, create practical marketing approaches, deal with unexpected challenges, and generate realistic financial goals. Small business training is available at the local level in numerous content areas. Sample workshop topics include: how-to get started, business plan development, determining legal structure, small business financing, effective selling, and

e-commerce. For existing companies, longer term training in business model development, strategic planning, and fiscal fitness are available.

The MI-SBTDC network is a grassroots service provider for small businesses that works in partnership with local resources to grow and strengthen companies within the community. The SBTDC prides itself on its effective partnerships with other programs, enabling the business owner to access all the resources needed to grow their company.

Strong working relationships by local SBTDC offices with Michigan?s US Export Assistance Centers, Procurement & Technical Assistance Centers, Michigan State University Extension Centers, and Bio Business Consultants of Ann Arbor are four excellent examples where a small business owner is often simultaneously assisted through a partner program. While building their business model with the SBTDC, in these particular partnership instances, the company may also be simultaneously engaged in an area such as export readiness, or government contracting, or new agricultural product development, or SBIR grant writing training through the respective partners.

In addition to provision of no-cost counsel and low cost training for the traditional ?Main Street? companies ? small manufacturers, retailers, and service entities, the MI-SBTDC employs four fulltime and three part time Technology Business Consultants who work with companies that are the base of the ?knowledge-based economy? industry being grown in Michigan.

This translates to assisting Michigan innovators who have developed a product or process in varied areas: homeland security, advanced manufacturing, life sciences, or information technology. The SBTDC assists these innovators by helping them build their management team, by connecting them with needed experts, by pursuing alternative financing including SBIR and STTR, by dealing with intellectual property issues, and by business model and commercialization plan development.

The MI-SBTDC counsels over 8,000 small businesses annually. Given the statistics: small businesses create 60-80 percent of the net new jobs, pay 44 percent of the US private payroll, represent 99 percent of all employer firms, are employers of 39 percent of the high tech workers, are 97 percent of the exporters resulting in 29 percent of export value, and create 13-14 times the number of patents per employee compared to large patenting businesses ? the SBTDC is engaged in very important work.

Carol Lopucki is State Director of the MI-Small Business & Technology Development Center, headquartered at Grand Valley State University. For more information, click on MiSBTDC.Org