Funding a resource for small business

It would be nice to believe that with Rick Perry dropping out of the GOP primary last week that the idea he floated earlier this month in South Carolina of killing off the Small Business Administration would itself be killed off.  But that’s not going to happen.

There are still too many politicians willing to sacrifice one of the only federal agencies charged with providing services to small business for the goal of deficit reduction.  And there are too many small business owners siding with the SBA-bashers because they have no clue as to the services of the SBA and the Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) if funds. 

So here is a primer on the SBDC in South Carolina.  It is a statewide network of 17 local centers promoting economic development through business consultation to new entrepreneurs and existing small businesses.  The program is supported with federal, state, local and private funds and is open to any present or prospective small business owner generally fee free.  As one of the few state supported efforts to help small businesses grow and prosper, the SBDC sees upwards of 3,500 entrepreneurs and current small business owners a year. 

Nationwide it is the same positive story.  The country has 900 local SBDC’s that provided services to over a half million entrepreneurs and small businesses in 2010.  SBDCs help those thinking about starting a business or  needing help in applying for a loan as well as working with existing small businesses wanting to find new markets or trying to right-size in the face of a bad economy.

Talk at the federal or state levels of ending the SBA or under funding the SBDC is economic development foolishness for those saying they want to create or save jobs.  We should be expanding the SBDC’s ability to serve our state’s small businesses and that’s why the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce supports our SBDC’s budget request of $520,000.

Action Alert--SBDC budget vetoed

Yesterday Governor Haley vetoed the entire state budget for the South Carolina Small Business Development Center. Please see the letter below for our reasons for asking the Legislature to override Veto # 12.

Call your House and Senate member ASAP, before noon today, and ask them to vote t override Veto # 12. You can find a list of all House members here and all Senators here.

Please take this action immediately.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

June 29, 2011

South Carolina General Assembly
State House

Re: Veto 12, Small Business Development Center

Dear Legislator:

Governor Haley, like Governor Sanford before her, has vetoed the entire state budget of the South Carolina Small Business Development Center (SBDC). We are asking you to vote to override Veto 12 as you and Representative Nikki Haley did last year. The reasons for your override vote have not changed since last year because the incorrect reasons for the veto are the same.

Governor’s Reason #1: This program is not central to the university’s (USC) mission.

The federal government requires that its one-to-one matching funds for the nation’s SBDCs go through an institution of higher learning. USC provides this administrative function for its partner institutions of Clemson, Winthrop, and SC State. The approximately $1.4 million federal dollars the state receives is added to the state, local government and some private funds to operate SBDC offices in Aiken, Beaufort, Charleston, Clemson, Columbia, Florence, Greenville, Greenwood, Hilton head, Myrtle Beach, Newberry, Orangeburg, Rock Hill, Spartanburg and Sumter. Every one of these offices will close if the Governor’s veto is not overridden. Local governments and private businesses will not continue to fund a program the state has abandoned.

Governor’s Reason # 2: This program duplicates services already offered by the South Carolina Department of Commerce and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

Neither the S.C. Department of Commerce nor the SBA provides one-on-one consulting services to small business owners trying to grow their businesses or simply trying to survive in this economy. The S.C. Department of Commerce only lists three small business functions of its website: providing information on educational resources, providing information on financial resources and its small business ombudsman’s office (which refers small business owner to the SBDC). The SBA lists Small Business Development Centers as a provider of SBA’s consulting services. Therefore the SBDC is not a duplicative service of the SBA because the SBA relies on the services of the SBDC.

In her letter, Governor Haley indicates that her vetoes will help us “move forward in strengthening our economy”. Her veto 12 does the opposite. It will seriously damage our economy that depends on our small businesses.

Sincerely,

Frank Knapp, Jr.
President & CEO
The South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce