SPOKANE, Wash.— Mark Madrid, an associate administrator with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), will be in Spokane on March 15 to help celebrate national SBDC Day with the Washington Small Business Development Center (SBDC).
Madrid leads the SBA’s Office of Entrepreneurial Development which has oversight of the SBA’s technical assistance resource partners, including the SBDC, SCORE, Women’s Business Centers and the Veterans Business Outreach Center.
“We are excited to have Mr. Madrid here in Spokane to celebrate SBDC Day,” said Duane Fladland, state director of the Washington SBDC.
SBDC Day was created in 2017 by the America’s SBDC, the national organization representing 63 statewide or regional networks and more than 1,000 community-based SBDC advising centers across the country.
“SBA leadership has made outreach to rural and underserved communities a high priority,” Fladland said, “so his visit to Eastern Washington is a welcome opportunity to showcase the work the SBDC and other resource partners are doing to expand access to technical assistance and boost outcomes for entrepreneurs across the state.”
While in Spokane, Madrid will meet with a variety of people involved in small business development, including lenders and civic leaders. Madrid, SBA Region X Administrator Mike Fong, Seattle District Director Kerrie Hurd and Spokane Branch manager Joel Nania will tour several small businesses, including Decade Awards, an SBDC client since 2021.
The Washington SBDC includes more than 40 business advisors and three international trade business advisors located in more than two dozen communities from the Canadian border to the Columbia River and from Pullman to Port Angeles. SBDC advisors provide one-on-one advising, education and research to assist small business owners and entrepreneurs who want to start, grow or buy/sell a business.
In 2022, advisors with the Washington SBDC assisted more than 3,038 small business owners through on-going, no-cost, results-oriented assistance. Those business owners credited their SBDC advisor with helping them access more than $115 million in new capital and save or create more than 3,094 jobs. SBDC advisors also presented more than 165 training events on a variety of topics that were attended by 4,132 business owners and entrepreneurs.
Our clients say it best. Here is a sampling from our recent request for feedback:
- My mentors have helped me go from working at this company to owning it when the original owner wanted to retire. We wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have access to their wisdom!
- It saved me and my business. Pulled me out of my despair and gave me the tools & resources to keep going. I would not be in business today without the SBDC.
- Working with the SBDC has been an invaluable resource for us as small business owners. Help, advice, guidance, and general support is always provided in a timely and compassionate manner.
SBDCs have also supported small business in ways beyond business development. SBDCs are key partners in disaster recovery, working with SBA, FEMA, and state agencies to improve resiliency and speed recovery in disaster-stricken communities.
The SBDC was created by Congress in 1980 to give small business owners access to expert business advising at no cost to the business owner. Each SBDC network must raise half of its funding from state and local sources, most often institutions of higher education, economic development agencies and other civic and business organizations. That funding is then matched with funding from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The SBDC network in Washington has been hosted by Washington State University since it opened in 1980 and receives both funding and administrative support from WSU.
For more information about the Washington SBDC, go to www.wsbdc.org.
