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In the case of the Kitsap Business Assistance Center (KBAC) located at the Norm Dicks Government Center, we have the benefit of both. Year to date, the KBAC has created or saved 37 jobs, assisted in finding $3,020,800 in funding for clients, and has had a total economic impact of $5,552,179 in Kitsap County. This is more than eight times the impact our Center had during this time period in 2006. The Center continues to grow and expand to meet the needs of the local business community. The obvious need for these services gives us confidence that the KBAC will continue to be a key component of the economic development efforts for years to come.
We would like to report that over the past six months we have discussed the value of changing the name of the KBAC to better align with the naming convention used by other Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) in Washington State. The KBAC is an SBDC under the Small Business Administration and should therefore use “Small Business Development Center” in our formal name. The name typically includes the name of the higher education institution with which they are affiliated. Under this scenario, our new name would be:
Small Business Development Center — Olympic College
In addition, Governor Gregoire recently signed legislation that provides additional state funding for our Center so that we may expand our reach to support the underserved businesses of Mason County. SBDC assignment areas are typically aligned with a college’s service area. For Olympic College the service area is Kitsap and Mason Counties. Over the past year there has been an increased interest out of Mason County for our business services, but it has been difficult to provide due to lack of funds. With these additional monies we will be able to hire an assistant to handle administrative duties so our Certified Business Advisor, Rand Riedrich, can reach out to and serve businesses in Kitsap and now Mason Counties.
This is an exciting growth opportunity for the program and economic development of Kitsap and Mason Counties. The name change is further supported by this expansion of our service area.
The Washington State SBDC network includes 27 Centers run by Certified Business Advisors. They are responsible for helping local businesses save or create 2,110 jobs and assisting clients in obtaining over $96.5 million in loans and new investments in 2006. They counseled 3,256 clients last year, which includes 24,410 hours of in-depth counseling — more than seven hours for every client. In addition, over 5,800 clients attended 545 training sessions.
Kitsap and Mason County businesses may tap into this powerful network of knowledge, experience and resources. By aligning more formally by name with the WSBDC, our local Center ensures a strong and vital link to this network to support the growth and success of our clients, and makes it easier for business owners to find our Center from the State’s website.
We thank our community partners and clients and welcome their continued support as we make this exciting change to become the Small Business Development Center - Olympic College, and to better reflect the comprehensive business and economic development services and resources we provide.
(Editor’s Note: Wendy Miles, Director of Customized Training and Military Education at Olympic College, oversees the operation of the Small Business Development Center – Olympic College (SBDC-OC). For partnership opportunities, contact her at 360-475-7786. For business counseling services and workshops contact Rand Riedrich, Certified Business Advisor, at 360-307-4220, rriedrich@oc.ctc.edu.). |
