The FSBDCN is one of eight original SBDC pilot programs funded in 1976 by the US SBA to successfully link the state's education system to community outreach, utilizing both faculty and students to aid in the development and education of the state’s entrepreneurs and small business community. Today, the FSBDC is a statewide network of 33 centers involving seven universities and eight community colleges, with additional outreach provided at resource partner locations.

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The SBDC at USF partners with the College of Business MBA program to provide local businesses and graduate students an opportunity to create strategic plans. The USF MBA program culminates in a two-semester capstone referred to as the Integrated Business Applications (IBA) course. The goal of this program is to address the call by industry for more cross-functional training of MBA students. This program allows the graduate students to apply knowledge developed over the course of their education. Students are required to develop a strategic plan for existing businesses with gross revenues over $3 million and five or more employees. The students spend two semesters with the company working on an industry wide situation analysis, a marketing analysis and sales forecasting. Each semester, the students present a report to the company which addresses action plans to attain their goals.

The SBDC at USF actively recruits small businesses in the Tampa Bay area, which fit the criteria set by the professors of the program. Once a catalog of companies has been created, the CBA presents an anonymous list of businesses to the students. The students chose a company after ensuring all the disciplines are represented within the group such as Finance, Marketing, and Management. A number of the MBA students come from backgrounds other than business as well, such as engineering and medicine. These group dynamics lead to a number of surprising insights for the companies. The CBA works closely with the students and the companies to communicate requirements for the MBA program, as well as ensure that all the resources of the Small Business Development Center are used to assist local businesses. Among our ranks are a Senior Lender with many years of SBA loan experience, an in-house CPA, a government procurement specialist and a marketing specialist. Our office is able to work with the companies and the students to provide in-depth market feasibility and funding options. Through the course of this program which has over 40 companies as alumni, the students have identified a number of opportunities for the companies to capture new markets and expand. The students also benefit from the opportunity to work with real world entrepreneurs and to apply the lessons learned from case studies and their own experiences in the professional world.

The SBDC at USF recruits clients and companies who may benefit from the graduate student involvement. Over 40 companies have gone through the two semester capstone course and the implications have been far reaching for both the students and the companies. A recent company who completed the program added more than five employees and consolidated a $1 million loan using the data collected by the students. Students spend an average of 30 hours a week researching and meeting with the companies and the CBA will develop a closer relationship with the participating companies to ensure action plans are implemented and growth is ensured.

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Carrie Duvall of the SBDC at UCF sent a call out to her clients that Dr. Lloyd Fernald at the UCF College of Business was looking for established businesses that wanted to work on a specific business need with graduate student teams. Several clients worked with student teams, but the success at Apex Environmental is notable. Graduate students Meg O’Meara and Kelley Ford, under the guidance of Dr. Fernald, were instrumental in developing a Human Resources and Employee Handbook for Apex Environmental, a client of the Advisory Board Council at the SBDC at UCF.

Rod Vargas, President of Apex Environmental, shares, "The experience was both enjoyable and beneficial because we never have had the time or knowledge to pull this document together. The resources and energy the students brought to the project resulted in a resource that will be unveiled to our employees at the end of the summer. The handbook gives our company a great hiring tool and is expected to minimize time spent in Human Resources tasks. We were so impressed with their performance that our company has an open door for them. I applaud UCF for the initiative they are taking. I wish I would have had this opportunity when I was attending college. What a great way to create a win-win situation!"

Apex Environmental Engineering & Compliance, Inc. (Apex) was established to provide a wide range of environmental, health, safety, construction, and engineering consulting services in the United States and internationally. Apex is a Federal 8(a) certified SDBE, a Florida MBE, and a FDOT SDBE. They bring project teams consisting of engineers, geologists, specialized consultants, certified contractors, and laboratories to provide the full range of services required to complete a project, on time and within budget. Their capabilities include: Civil and Structural Engineering; Construction Management; Water/Wastewater Engineering; Environmental, Safety, and Health Training; Emergency Response Training; Environmental Assessments; Waste Management & Disposal; and Compliance Research & Program Development.

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In June 2005, the clients and advisors of the SBDC at UCF's Advisory Board Council were invited to participate in a special seminar. The seminar entitled “Five Pillars of Financial Dominance" was hosted and presented by Leigh Ann Horton of CFO Strategic Partners, a sponsor of the Advisory Board Council program.

Horton, who is also a volunteer Advisor to a Council client, offers: "Business owners hide a dirty little secret…they simply aren't as good with 'the numbers' as they'd like to be. And, they make things worse by avoiding the issue. Business owners are quite open with shortcomings in marketing, sales, human relations and operations, but tend to change the subject – business owners are running blind. Maybe they are catching the easy 'daytime' stuff, like monthly income and monitoring the checking account balance. But they have trouble seeing the other issues – the 'nighttime' stuff that can kill them in a heartbeat – because they never learned to see in the dark. The result is that they get ambushed by numbers that have been staring them in the face for months."

During the two-hour program developed especially for small business owners, Leigh Ann educated the group and gave them "night-vision goggles".

• She started with the basics of financial statements, then quickly went on to comprehensive analysis tools that apply across industries;
• She used exercises and anecdotes to show how to predict and protect a company’s future;
• Lastly, she touched on the importance of cash flow, providing ideas for creative tax positioning, while conveying a unique perspective on budgeting.

Leigh Ann Horton can be reached at 407.426.8288 or lhorton@cfosp.com at the Orlando office of CFO Strategic Partners. www.cfosp.com. She is available and would love the opportunity to present this seminar, at no cost, to your clients – she’ll travel statewide!

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On June 20-23, eleven Florida SBDC Network professional staff participated in the "Disaster Resistant Jobs: Strategies for Community Emergency & Economic Risk (CEER) Management" course. Held at the National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg, Maryland, the course prepared front line responders in a train-the-trainer format. Developed by the Economic Development Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help small and medium size communities protect their economy from the effects of catastrophic events, the course provided participants with the tools to respond more effectively.

Communities that experience major disasters lose a major portion of their economic base. Studies have shown that after a disaster, 60% of small and medium size businesses fail within two years and many never return once they are closed for even a few days due to floods, tornadoes, earthquakes and hurricanes. The community suffers from the hazardous effects and, in the long run, job loss and a diminished tax base further reduce the community's return to normalcy.

More than half of the 24 class participants were from Florida (worst hit by the four hurricanes). Others were from Utah, Guam, Maryland, California, Kentucky, Georgia and Oklahoma. Topics of the four-day course included The Importance of Disaster Resistant Jobs; Creating Disaster Resistant Jobs; Recognizing the Impact; What About Mitigation?; Disaster Resistant Economic Development Planning Process; and Business Recovery. On the last day, students presented a plan centering on protecting the economic base of their local community.

As a statewide partnership between higher education and economic development dedicated to helping entrepreneurs start and grow successful business in Florida, the FSBDCN’s network of 31 centers played a major role in the disaster recovery efforts resulting from the four hurricanes that hit Florida last year. To better prepare for future catastrophic events, Florida SBDC Network graduates/trainers will address groups including local economic development agencies, Chamber of Commerce meetings, service club luncheons, business meetings and other formats to raise awareness and address the issue of protecting the communities’ economic base. Other more specific plans will follow that address the unique needs of different Florida regions.


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As a direct result of numerous years of effort on the part of the FSBDCN, two 40-hour training modules were delivered to the SBDC at the Mérida Institute of Technology (MIT) in May and June of 2005. In May, Eileen Rodríguez with the SBDC at USF and Dominic Orsini with the SBDC at UNF Gainesville office traveled to Mérida. The purpose of the trip was to conduct a 40-hour training for the Mérida SBDC personnel on how the FSBDCN runs its program in Florida for them to use as a model.

We went over counseling procedures, front office procedures, training events, and advertising. We discussed Health Checks, Success Stories, and Center IC. They also completed the first three modules of the Professional Development training, including the Ethics Exam and all of the cases. On Friday, the last day, we facilitated a strategic planning session for their center.

We had 15 participants; only 4 of which were SBDC personnel. Their SBDC office runs very differently from the U.S. model. They charge for their services, approximately $150 per business for a very intensive 4-month program where they do an in-depth health check and then help them implement improvements. The price also includes training, so they really only do two training sessions a year, where they will do a total of five seminars per session.

Prior to the second module being implemented, Jessica Dickerson, a student intern from the SBDC at USF, arrived in Mérida on June 12 and worked in their SBDC office for six weeks helping them implement their strategic plan.

The second training module conducted in June was a continuation of the first module. Eileen Rodríguez was joined by Lilian Urbandt, SBDC at FAU, and Julio Estremera, SBDC at FGCU, for this training session. The strategic plan was finalized and numerous train-the-trainer sessions were presented in various topics such as Steps to Starting a Small Business, Finance, Accounting, Marketing, and Advertising. Additionally, the participants completed Modules 5 and 6 of the FSBDCN Professional Development training. During this training exercise, we were joined by five additional participants, all from different Technology Institutes from different parts of Mexico (they have a network of over 180 Institutes throughout the entire country).

What they took away from our training was a desire to modify their current counseling and events system to more closely simulate the FSBDCN. The third module will consist of SBDC at MIT personnel visiting Florida SBDCs sometime in October 2005 for on-site training as to how our system works. Once this has been completed, then we will return for a final visit to Mérida to see them implement the changes to their system.

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The Federally-recognized Seminole Indian Tribe of Florida has 3,000 members living on six reservations in South Florida. Contact with the Tribe was initially made by PTAC Program Procurement Specialist Jackie Rule, SBDC at FAU in Boca Raton. An orientation session was conducted for the Tribal leadership at their Hollywood headquarters on April 14, 2005 by PTAC Program Procurement Specialists Carole Hart, Mike Bell and Jackie Rule. Also attending this session for the Seminole Tribe were Stan Rodimon, CEO; Mike Tiger, Treasurer; and Ernie Tiger, Business Analyst. The PTAC Program Procurement Specialists detailed the SBA 8(a) program/certification advantages, benefits of doing business with the government, and the value of the SBDC business assistance programs. The PTAC Program Procurement Specialists have met subsequently with various tribal leaders and members for further planning of procurement-related seminars and counseling.

The initial visit to the Seminole Tribal Headquarters allowed the Procurement Specialists to better understand this unique Florida culture, meet some of the Tribal leaders and advise them of the PTAC and SBDC Programs at Florida Atlantic University. An overview of the free counseling services offered by the PTAC Program and SBDC was provided by the PTAC Program Procurement Specialists.

At later sessions, Bell and Rule counseled tribal member Gem Osceola and his spouse regarding their eligibility for 8(a) certification. Bell and Rule will provide one-on-one counseling sessions on preparing the certification documents. If the Osceola business is certified, it will be the first business within the Tribe to be 8(a) certified.

During other discussions, the PTAC Program Procurement Specialists Bell and Rule provided Mike Tiger written suggestions of topics, dates and times for PTAC Program seminars on government procurement to be conducted at some of the other six Seminole tribal locations. The Procurement Specialists also arranged for SBDC at FAU Business Analysts to visit the Tribal leaders to discuss the presentation of business-related topics. The proposed procurement seminar schedule for the Big Cypress Reservation will be used as a template for serving the specific needs of the Seminole Indian Tribe, and may be duplicated in the future at the Hollywood reservation.

The PTAC Program Procurement Specialists are dedicated in their efforts to provide training and individual counseling sessions on local state and federal government. Such dedicated efforts will help assure success to Tribal businesses in the procurement arena.

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On July 21, 2005, the Florida Small Business Development Center Network (FSBDCN) was notified by the National Accreditation Committee that the statewide network of 31 SBDC offices met all conditions and criteria for full accreditation by the national accrediting agency—the Association of Small Business Development Centers (ASBDC). The four-member ASBDC Accreditation Review Team visited the lead center, all 8 regional SBDCs and some satellite centers in Florida in the spring 2004 and prepared a written report based on their assessments for the national accrediting committee. The Accreditation Committee met and voted on July 19.

Accreditation is important for the centers and imperative for the statewide network, as it drives improvements in management systems and processes. The ASBDC test of uniform high quality delivery systems used by the accreditation team ensures that the federal government, host institutions and the state—the funding agencies—fund programs that have demonstrated effectiveness, efficiency and success in consulting with and training small business entrepreneurs, the business and non-business managers, that make up Florida’s economic backbone.

Among the noteworthy programs, processes and accomplishments of the FSBDCN observed during the review were the highly competent and enthusiastic staff; Florida developed, internet-based, Management Information Systems used to track counseling, training outreach and economic impact; Counselor Certification Program that all business analysts must complete before counseling clients; Florida Professional Development Program that includes a statewide Professional Development Conference; Florida’s strategic planning process used to develop the current five-year strategic plan; and the ISO 9001 certification achieved by the Regional SBDC at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.

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