The Kutztown University Small Business Development Center won the Small Business Administration’s Pennsylvania Small Business Development Center Excellence and Innovation Award, presented on May 2.
“We’re just very pleased and honored to be recognized for our innovation and service excellence to our clients in our five-county region,” said KU Small Business Development Center Director Dr. Ernie Post. “This is really about our team of professional consultants and grad students that work with our small business community every day of the week helping them grow, start and prosper.”
Post said the award recognizes the Center for their innovation and excellence in serving small businesses.
“We’ve done quite a few innovative things like initiating a Latino Business Resource Center, initiating a social media program to help our clients understand how to better use social media. We also have a search engine optimization report,” said Post. “We’re always looking at how we can better serve our clients and develop innovative programs to better serve them.”
Post thanked the SBA for recognizing the Center and also offered thanks “to our clients who ultimately are why we are here.”
SBA’s Pennsylvania Small Business Development Center Excellence and Innovation Award winner is selected annually from among nominees located across the state, according to the SBA.
“It’s National Small Business Week so we’re out celebrating a lot of different awards we give out,” said Antonio Leta, Director, U.S. SBA Eastern Pennsylvania District. “We honored (the KU Small Business Development Center) for their great work they do with small businesses in terms of counseling in the five-county area they work in.”
Leta explained that the Center is a resource partner with the SBA.
“They work with businesses on business plans, marketing plans, finance plans, exporting, getting government contracts so they provide a lot of different services to small businesses and the majority of their services are free, so a small business can get the opportunity to come get great advice at no cost,” said Leta. “Where else would a small business go for that kind of advice? Where else could they get the kind of expertise they can get here?”
Leta said small businesses create two out of three jobs and most hire from the local community and get their supplies and their services from the local community.
“Small business really is the heart of economic development for a community,” he said. “The more we can support small business, the more we can help small businesses grow, grow more jobs, then the stronger the fabric of the small business community is going to be and the community is going to be.”
According to the SBA release, the KU SBDC’s mission is to provide entrepreneurs and small business owners with the knowledge needed to make smart decisions and prosper in Berks, Chester, Dauphin, Lancaster and Lebanon counties. Employing a full-time staff of professionals, the SBDC offers existing businesses and early-stage entrepreneurs access to no cost, confidential consulting services and learning opportunities at outreach offices in Kutztown, Reading, Harrisburg, Exton, Lancaster, and York. Kutztown SBDC is part of a state-wide network of colleges and university centers which is a joint venture of federal, state, and private sector agencies and organizations including the US Small Business Administration and the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development. Each agency, along with Kutztown University, contributes to the financial support of the program.