The Small Business Development Center is at Prairie View A&M University mainly to equip students who are building a business for the first time with the power of information. The grant-funded center located inside of Hobart Taylor helps formulate ideas for starting a successful small business.
Since 2004, SBDC has provided free counseling and assistance to businesses in Waller and Grimes Counties. Whether you’re just starting your business, experiencing your first growing pains, or ready to move your business to the next level, SBDC can help with professional consultants who have extensive experience working with business in multiple industries and bring practical knowledge and business expertise from marketing to accounting, and even personal financing.
Making an appointment with the SBDC is free of charge; the center concentrates on helping students evaluate business ideas and assists in researching target markets as well as preparing marketing strategies. They teach the basics of business for a real world experience and provide consultants to help with any questions.
Small businesses are businesses that employ 500 employees or less.
They come and go due to the harsh economy and large corporation (Fortune 500) competitors that put them out of business. However, small businesses create more jobs and if planned and marketed properly, it can be as successful as a large corporation.
The center offers dozens of affordable and sometimes free workshops and seminars for students to attend to teach the basics that help polish marketing and management skills. Instructors teach different workshops from the real world of business, sharing information and teaching practical techniques that can be used right away for business projects. The center also has an interactive online workshop that is available every day of the week.
The workshop is accessible from personal computers as well as mobile. The website is www.pvamu.edu/sbdc
SBDC director Rebecca Lynn Faison said, “The center is here on campus to provide information, assist in making ideas better, assist targeting markets, and also to enhance business projects.” “Some programs that are beneficial to students are business plan management development, budgeting, taxes, marketing and many more to assist in jump starting a successful small business.
The center specializes in launching new technology-based businesses, accessing library resources, planning for and recovering from business interruptions, and also researches international markets.
They also provide seminars that include credit management, hobbies to home business, introduction to business ownership, and Web site design seminar, as well as many more seminars throughout the year, among others.
The center is also heavily involved with the city of Prairie View.