The mission of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) hosted by Santa Monica College (SMC) is to help emerging entrepreneurs realize their dream of business ownership, and assist existing businesses to better compete in the multi-faceted and ever-changing local, national and global economies.
The SMC SBDC is part of the Los Angeles Regional SBDC Network and exists to serve prospective and current small business owners with a wide variety of business-related services.
The SBDC is dedicated to starting and expanding businesses, accessing capital, creating and retaining jobs, and promoting minority- and women-owned businesses.
The SBDC offers free, confidential one-on-one business consulting, as well as low-cost workshops, to support new entrepreneurs and current business owners in all aspects of successfully running a small business.
With education and expertise in a diversity of areas, the SBDC’s professional consultants are available to assist with many business needs.
These needs include accessing capital, accounting, business start-up requirements, business plans, financing projections, government contracting, green business/sustainability, Human resources, international trade, legal assistance, loan packaging/lender referrals, marketing and sales, retail, social media, strategic planning, and web design.
Small business is the engine of economic growth and accounts for 99 percent of all U.S. businesses and 53 percent of private sector jobs (Source: America’s Small Business Development Centers).
The SMC SBDC has been helping small businesses begin, prosper, and grow for more than six years – ultimately, contributing to the growth of local, state and national economies.
Since its inception, the SMC SBDC has provided one-on-one consulting to more than 3,385 clients and more than 7,600 people have attended its workshops.
Through the assistance of its services, these clients were able to start 225 plus businesses, develop more than 1,150 jobs, increase sales by more than $57 million, and generate $40 plus million in investments.
SBDC’s services are funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).
The SBDC’s services are also funded in part by state, local, and private sector partners.
The SBDC welcomes donations, sponsorships, and partnerships to further its mission of helping to grow small businesses.
For more information, visit smcsbdc.org.