Iowa's entrepreneurs are the driving force behind the state's economic growth, and the Iowa Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) enable entrepreneurs and their businesses to grow and be successful. A recent U.S Small Business Association (SBA) accreditation review found the SBDC program to be well run and poised for making substantial impacts on the state economy if additional funding is obtained. The reviewers also noted that with recent budget cuts at the state and federal levels, the SBDC program is running extremely lean and will likely have a difficult time maintaining current service levels across the state. This year, Iowa State University is requesting an increase of $294,145 for the statewide SBDC program.

The SBDC is an outreach program of Iowa State University's College of Business and is the only nationally-accredited entrepreneurial development program in Iowa. Partially funded by the SBA, the organization has 15regional assistance centers located strategically across the state. Since program inception in 1981, the SBDC has helped hundreds of thousands of Iowa businesses and entrepreneurs through no fee, confidential, customized, professional business counseling and practical, affordable training.

In FY 2014, the SBDC and its clients have been responsible for:

• Counseling more than 2,600 individual clients
• Assisting companies in attracting $52+ million in new capital
• Creating 1,196  new jobs (that's a new job every 7 hours) and 251 new businesses (that's a new business every 35 hours)
• Increasing sales by over $4.1 million per month

Coinciding with Iowa State University's land-grant mission, the SBDC demonstrates how the university is helping to create new jobs, businesses, and opportunities for Iowans in all 99 counties.

Did you know? The SBDC awards will be presented in a special ceremony tomorrow at the State Capitol:

• Shelly Zimmerman, agency owner of Harrison Thornburgh Insurance, for the Deb Dalziel Woman Entrepreneur Achievement Award
• Deb Davis, owner of Sister's Home Style Entr�es, for the Neal Smith Entrepreneur of the Year Award