Grant to help businesses hit by natural disaster

Missouri State University's Small Business & Technology Development Center has received a $16,445 supplemental grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration to help area businesses hit by natural disaster in 2008.

According to a Sept. 18 news release, all 19 counties served by MSU's SBTDC - including Greene, Christian, Polk and Taney counties - were declared disaster victims in 2008.

The money will be used to provide access to training seminars in the center's Small Business Certification Program or fisCAL financial analysis packages on a first-come, first-serve basis until the funds have been depleted, the release said.

Through the Small Business Certification Program, participants can set their own seminar schedules and complete 43 hours of training aimed at teaching them how to successfully operate and improve the management of their companies.

Using past financial information, fisCAL financial analyses help participants understand where their companies have been in order to determine the direction the business is headed, the release said. SBTDC will analyze company financial statements and provide industry comparisons with an interpretive narrative.

MSU's SBDTC, located on the MSU campus, is funded in part through a cooperative agreement between University of Missouri Extension and the U.S. Small Business Administration. Plans are for the center to relocate to MSU's IDEA Commons urban research park, specifically in the former Willow Brook Foods facility in downtown Springfield.

More information is available at the link below.