One of the Louisiana Small Business Development Centers has a new home on campus to continue providing training and consulting help to entrepreneurs and business startups within the state.
The move from the Louisiana Business and Technology Center to the third floor of the rotunda in the Business Education Complex under the Stephenson Entrepreneurship Institute became official today as the doors opened for operations.
A LSBDC functioned on campus in 1998, but moved off campus and has since been operated by the LBTC, which specializes in technology and engineering companies, said Charles D’Agostino, SEI interim director and LBTC executive director.
The LBTC is the home of the business incubator that has provided free services to help thousands of small businesses in Louisiana since it started in 1998.
D’Agostino said the broad range of businesses the LSBDC deals with, like retail services and restaurants, prompted the move to campus.
“We felt that it would be a great transition to move it back to campus — move it to the SEI — so that they can use their resources and the students to work with these companies that we don’t work with,” he said.
The LSBDC will continue a mission of providing a variety of helpful services on several issues small businesses encounter as they are trying to open or expand, said Robin Kistler, SEI director of Executive Education.
In addition to having University faculty work at the center, entrepreneurship students will also get a chance to work and get real life experience, she said.
“It is a way to get our students, MBA students and any undergrad students involved in entrepreneurship, to get them a little more involved in the SBDC and learning how to run their own business,” Kistler said. “They are going to get a lot of exposure to small businesses.”
“It is a way to get our students, MBA students and any undergrad students involved in entrepreneurship, to get them a little more involved in the SBDC and learning how to run their own business.”