Hawai‘i Small Business Development Center, a partner program of UH Hilo and the U.S. SBA, receives another five-year accreditation
The Hawaiʻi SBDC program provides professional business consulting, research, and training to business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs.
By Alyssa Mathews.
The Hawaiʻi Small Business Development Center (Hawaiʻi SBDC), a statewide program that provides professional business advising and expertise to local small business entrepreneurs, has received another five years of accreditation by America’s Small Business Development Centers accreditation committee. The Hawaiʻi SBDC is a partnership program between the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo.
The accreditation will allow ongoing funding from the SBA to enable the Hawaiʻi SBDC to continue to assist local budding entrepreneurs and businesses. The program also receives funding through the State Legislature to provide matching funds for the federal program.
“As a university hosted program, we are naturally allied with the resources of higher education, and are a conduit for the forces of innovation and creation through encouragement and mentoring in support of those with the entrepreneurial spirit,” says Cathy Wiltse, state director for the Hawaiʻi SBDC. “Hawaiʻi SBDC is focused on client satisfaction and assisting businesses to thrive or begin their entrepreneurial journey.”
The accreditation process assessed performance on a wide range of key indicators: leadership, planning, customers (clients), measurement, human resources, operations, and results.
Hawaiʻi SBDC
The Hawaiʻi SBDC program was established in 1990, and has since continued to provide professional business consulting, research, and training to business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs in order to promote growth, innovation, productivity, and management improvement in the business sector of the state of Hawaiʻi.
“To accomplish these objectives, we link federal, state and local resources, the educational community, and the private sector to meet the needs of Hawaiʻi businesses,” says Wiltse.
In the past year alone, SBDC has served over 1,000 clients, created over 300 jobs, and started 90 businesses through providing business advising and expertise to clients.
Some of the services offered include business workshops and consultations from professional business advisors that give in-depth analysis of clients’ business plans and development. The services are open to early stage entrepreneurs as well as entrepreneurs with established businesses.
“Hawaiʻi SBDC is focused on client satisfaction and assisting businesses to thrive or begin their entrepreneurial journey,” explains Wiltse. “The SBA funding establishes goals for each state based on the populations and the Hawaiʻi SBDC has been able to succeed in surpassing those goals for the last eight years.”
There are five Hawaiʻi SBDC locations throughout the state of Hawaiʻi: one each on Maui, Kauaʻi and Oʻahu, and two on Hawaiʻi Island in Hilo and Kona.
“The Hawaiʻi SBDC, through the efforts of the five centers, is very involved with the communities that we serve, including county governments, chambers of commerce and other community groups,” says Wiltse.
Supporting budding entrepreneurs
An example of Hawaiʻi SBDC’s involvement with the Hawaiʻi Island community is the Hawaiʻi Island Business Plan Competition (HIplan), a competition open to entrepreneurs of for-profit and non-profit businesses that are intending to start businesses on Hawaiʻi Island. Competitors submit their business plans, give a fifteen-minute oral presentation and a two-minute elevator pitch, and winners are awarded a $25,000 cash-prize to help get the businesses in motion.
The competition is judged by local business professionals. Finalist judges also may invest in the business plans of the contestants if they so choose.
The HIplan competition encourages business planning and innovation in the local community, and is open to UH Hilo students. UH Hilo student participants who win the competition are also awarded a one-year tuition scholarship. One student winner had been an intern at the East Hawaiʻi SBDC Center in Hilo. Several of the statewide centers utilize the skills of interns to assist with projects and support the efforts of the small businesses that the SBDC serves.
Hawaiʻi SBDC staff also works with UH Hilo professors on projects and provides presentations to UH Hilo business classes.
These activities—HIplan, internships, and classroom instruction—connect UH Hilo students to business experiences and the local business community, helping the students gain awareness of the resources and opportunities around them.
“The Hawaiʻi SBDC is strongly positioned to provide a natural bridge between classroom and application, between capability and execution,” says Wiltse.
Story by Alyssa Mathews, a freshman at UH Hilo. She graduated from Waiakea High School and is a UH Hilo Chancellor’s Scholar.
