The Community Small Business Development Center (SBDC) officially unveiled their new-look offices on the Clovis Community College – Herndon Campus and received a certificate of recognition from Assemblyman Jim Patterson.
Members from CCC, the SBDC and the Clovis Chamber of Commerce along with Clovis community members took part in a ribbon cutting, meet and greet and open house for the new SBDC offices.
The SBDC in conjunction with CCC, is in a partnership with the University of California, Merced and receives funding from the U.S. Small Business Administration.
SBDC serves entrepreneurs, students and small business owners in various counties in the Central Valley. They offer access to business development resources and no cost consulting services, including a Spanish-speaking consultant that can serve Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs.
Rich Mosert, director, Valley Community SBDC at Clovis Community College has been working (mostly on his own) since January of 2018 when he was appointed and has already shown just how effective the SBDC can be.
So far, they have provided one-on-one consulting to 269 clients who were looking to start, expand or strengthen their small businesses. They have supported the creation and/or retention of 721 jobs.
Mosert and the SBDC have conducted or co-sponsored 25 workshops for over 1,500 attendees and have facilitated $7.1 million in capital infusion, while they have also hired and deployed 16 business consultants who are currently helping clients.
“We provide free counseling, technical assistance and training to anybody who wants to start, grow or expand a business. It’s a big job, we are a part of a 15 county region and we alone handle about 40% of all the population — we’re huge, we are the largest center.”
With the bigger area to assist, Mosert believes Valley Community SBDC should and will be the main group and overall heavy lifters.
“We have to be the spirit, we have to be the dominant one and so, I have gotten us to a point where we are very close to beating everybody which is nice,” Mosert said. “We are on target to surpass all of our goals which is pretty amazing considering we had to change hosts and kind of restarted.”
In a press release by Dr. Lori Bennett, president of Clovis Community College, she conveyed her excitement and vision for the partnership moving forward.
“We are excited about this partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration and the UC Merced, which funds the creation of the Valley Community Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Clovis Community College. Students and local business have access to various programs and services, free of charge, to facilitate the launch of new startups or further the goals of established businesses. By combining the non-credit entrepreneurship courses offered by the college with the services of the Valley Community SBDC, entrepreneurship in the Central Valley will be supported in new ways.
“In addition, the State Center Community College District’s partnership with the Center for International Trade Development (CITD) entrepreneurs will have greater access to ways of generating new revenue streams and new businesses through international trade.”