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On March 15, Troy University celebrated the Seventh Annual SBDC Day at the university’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) with a proclamation from the City of Troy.

Troy’s SBDC received a proclamation in which Troy Mayor Jason Reeves declared March 15 as Troy SBDC Day to go along with the National SBDC Day.

Troy’s SBDC provides consulting with experts in business and entrepreneurship to help small businesses in the area develop business plans and loan proposals, create marketing strategies, identify funding sources, marketing to the government, starting a business and more. Troy University’s SBDC has led to the creation of 742 new jobs, 93 new business starts and more than $23 million in growth capital accessed over the past five years. In 2022, Troy’s SBDC helped with the start of 28 new businesses and 52 new jobs. It also provided confidential, one-on-one assistance to more than 200 clients in 2022, including 66-percent of which were women-owned businesses, 21 percent were veteran-owned, 13-percent were minority-owned businesses and 57 percent were rural businesses.

“Economic development takes a lot of people, it takes support and it takes entrepreneurs understanding they have a support network here,” Troy SBDC Director Juliana Bolivar said. “Small businesses fuel our small town economies. Knowing that they have experts that can guide them through the process is always a big plus when people are trying to start new businesses in a community.”

Bolivar said that SDBC Day was more about spreading awareness of their services rather than celebrating their past successes.

“It’s an opportunity for us to raise awareness for our services and also the impact we have in our community,” she said. “We can collaborate with members of the faculty, staff and community but mainly try to spread the message and word that we are here to help. If someone doesn’t know us just yet, they can come and visit us and learn more about our services.”

Troy University’s SBDC is located in downtown Troy next to the Idea Bank.