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SBDC wins top counseling honors

CLARION, Pa., April 2 — The Clarion University Small Business Development Center (SBDC) recently received the 2008 Small Business Association Award of Excellence in Counseling.

(From left) Cindy Nellis, Tia Young and Lucy Adonizo of the Small Business Development Center pose with the Excellence in Counseling Award the center won for 2008.

The Small Business Association (SBA) Pittsburgh District Office presented the award. Clarion has won this award two times in the last four years. The selections for the awards are made by a committee of bankers from western Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Carl Knoblock, District Director for Small Business Association presented the award to Clarion at the 2009 Quality Circle Conference.

“I’ve always marveled at how productive Clarion University SBDC has been during my tenure with SBA,” said Knoblock. “They have a large 10-county territory and travel substantial distances to meet with and service small business clients. They do a marvelous job and they deserve this Award of Excellence in Counseling as a small token of our appreciation.”

In 2008, the Clarion SBDC had 50 of its 204 pre-venture clients start a new business and 65 of its clients obtained project financing, which totaled over $10 million.

“One thing that always haunted me about consulting small business is, will we make a difference?” said Dr. Woodrow Yeaney, director of Clarion SBDC.

“My concern about that, rather than if our consulting really adds value, grows out of my own view of life and trying to help the local community and economy. Sometimes small businesses just need a jump-start and an act of encouragement,” he said.

In 2008, Clarion SBDC provided many things for their clients. They provided 11,762 hours of one-on-one counseling to 314 clients (one client equals average of 37.46 hours), assisted 65 clients with getting financing for projects (totalling $10,268,882) and gave 4,104 hours of training at 84 events to 1,128 people.

Clarion SBDC had 50 of its clients start a business. They had eight in Clarion County, three in Armstrong County, one in Cameron County, nine in Jefferson County, seven in Clearfield County, 10 in McKean County, two in Venango County, two in Elk County, two in Potter County and six in various other counties.

The SBDC at Clarion University was created in 1980. It is one of 18 SBDCs in Pennsylvania and is an accredited affiliate of the National Network of Small Business Development Centers.

The mission of the SBDC at Clarion is to grow the economy of Pennsylvania by providing entrepreneurs with the education, information and tools to create successful businesses.

What you can expect from the Clarion University Small Business Development Center is free consulting assistance, confidentiality of provided information, unbiased recommendations and non-disclosure of trade secrets. In receiving consulting assistance you can expect training seminars and workshops, technology commercialization assistance, engineering development assistance, environmental management assistance, government marketing assistance and computer information research.

Yeaney said, “To be straightforward I will admit that I was surprised by the announcement,” said Yeaney. “I thought we had a slow year, but when you compare it to other SBDCs our production was high. I am grateful that the Clarion SBDC was recognized for our contributions.”