SBTDC increases Springfield startups, jobs retained in 2015

Training and management through Missouri State University’s Small Business & Technology Development Center gave small businesses in the southern part of the state a boost in fiscal 2015.

New economic impact data for the year ended Sept. 30 shows SBTDC helped client businesses retain 573 existing jobs ­– a nearly 30 percent increase from 444 in 2014 – across its 16-county service area in southern Missouri, according to a news release.

 SBTDC Director Rayanna Anderson said although the number of new jobs created was down 11.6 percent to 144 in 2015 compared to 163 last year, the number of startups generated from the center jumped to 21 this year from 16 in 2014. She added in the first month of fiscal 2016 the center added 20 new jobs.

“The economy is improving and people are gaining confidence, that’s the reality,” Anderson said of the general upward trend she has noticed at the center, located in the Robert W. Plaster Free Enterprise Center at the The eFactory.

Loan packaging assistance totaled $10.5 million in approved loans and equity investments for 2015 compared to $7.43 million in 2014. Sales by small business clients increased to more than $15 million from $8.29 million last year.

Roughly three-quarters of the economic activity occurred during the first six months of the center’s fiscal year, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.

Training seminars offered through the center also increased in 2015, numbering 62 with total attendance of 710, up from 57 seminars and 633 attendees in 2014.

“There has to be support in the community: the ability to get financing and develop the workforce, having people to hire, all those things are integral to startups,” Anderson added. “In Springfield, all the pieces are strong and coming together.”

Through the Springfield center and a satellite office on the campus of MSU-West Plains, SBTDC offers management support to existing and prospective small business owners in the areas of consultation, training and technical assistance, according to the release.