The Small Business Development Center at FIU: Boosting local entrepreneurs for 10 years and counting

More than 8,000 entrepreneurs and small businesses have been helped by the Florida SBDC at FIU. They’ve received advice and guidance on everything from registering a business to financing, marketing and all aspects of operations. With SBDC at FIU’s assistance, small business owners accessed hundreds of millions of dollars in capital and learned best practices for winning lucrative government contracts. What’s more, during the Covid pandemic, SBDC at FIU helped many of them apply for federal loans and advances and learn how to pivot to stay afloat until they could get their businesses back on track.

Now celebrating its 10th anniversary year, the SBDC at FIU is taking stock of its achievements even as it continues to bask in a recent big recognition. Last year, it was named SBDC of the year out of the more than 1,000 such centers across the country, which are partly supported by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

The numbers tell the story. Over the past decade, the SBDC at FIU has

• assisted 8,052 entrepreneurs and small‐business owners
• offered 123,890 hours of consulting
• helped launch 479 businesses
• helped businesses access $475 million in capital
• helped business secure $314 million in government contracts
• helped businesses increased revenues by $471 million 

A focus on micro businesses

Miami has always been a city of small businesses, and most are micro businesses, companies with fewer than 10 employees.

An impact report SBDC at FIU undertook in 2018 found that Miami-Dade had one of the highest percentages of microbusinesses. Nationally, 81.3% of all U.S. companies fall into that category. Those are the very companies that FIU assists, including one that had a vision for Asian fusion 

In 2010, after a night out with his wife, chef Alden Chance decided to experiment with putting oxtail in a sushi roll, and the idea of TropiRollz was born. From a home kitchen to a ghost kitchen in West Miami-Dade, the business began to grow but still fell short.

“Being consistent on a journey is not enough, you have to be persistent enough to see it through to become more than you are,” said Chance.

He worked closely with the FSBDC to build TropiRollz’s business plan and secure a small business loan. “With the help of the SBDC, we gained the knowledge in the different aspects of our business to continue growing,” said Chance. “There is this saying that ‘teamwork makes the dream work,’ thank you to the SBDC and the SBA for being a part of our team the dream is happening now.”

Getting started

Jacqueline Sousa, already serving as a consultant to FIU, initiated the SBDC at FIU in conversations with the then-dean of business and in 2014 became the center’s founding director. A big focus of the initial years was on putting a great team in place, along with developing partnerships with stakeholders and setting up all the processes and procedures for the new center.

Sousa dug in. “Not only do you want to find people who are great at what they do, they also have to be great at communicating their knowledge. Then you’re trying to put a team together and you want people who work well together, who are going to make up the kind of culture you’d like the organization to have.” Today, 22 consultants work at the center, which is located in Miami’s financial district, on Brickell Avenue.

Sousa looked for people who “are enthusiastic about always learning and just not settling for whatever past experience they have.” Also very important: the right mix of expertise. “That blend of different experiences also contributes to the way the whole team works together,” Sousa said.

But getting the right team in place was only part of it. “I felt like it was really important to demonstrate to our community stakeholders that we were going to do the things that we said we were going to do, to follow through on things, to demonstrate that we were serious about helping businesses,” she said. That included having the data to show their impact helping businesses.

In 2019, Sousa moved to another role within the university, and then-associate director Brian Van Hook took over.

“My focus was to build off that strong foundation and set up the center for continued success in the next ten years,” Van Hook said. “That involved deepening community partnerships in Miami-Dade and the Florida Keys, growing the team in in-demand consulting areas, and identifying new sources of funding to further expand our work.”

Persisting in a pandemic

During the pandemic, the center saw record levels of clients coming in to pivot their strategies or secure funding to stay afloat. “We were able to supplement the core consulting team with additional consultants funded by federal COVID funding, which helped keep pace and widened the specializations of an already great team. Many of those new consultants have remained with the team post-pandemic,” Van Hook said.

To get through the rought times of 2020 and set up the business for long-term growth, Alexander Zapata of Zai Cargo sought help.

He had some financial doubts and met financial consultant Roberto Castellon who helped him through the process of getting a loan and buying a warehouse. Next, he received help with rebranding and website changes as well as operational challenges and setting up HR systems. Today, Zai Cargo is thriving, with about 45 employees and sales between $9 million and $10 million per year.

During the height of the pandemic, the center helped more than 3,500 businesses secure $213.5 million in capital and $112 million in government contracts.  In addition, SBDC at FIU helped launch 174 new businesses during the pandemic, Van Hook said. SBDC also took the opportunity to partner with other groups in the community to run joint trainings and share resources.

“I am very proud of our consultants stepping up in a big way to help local businesses impacted by the pandemic. It was chaotic for everyone and FSBDC at FIU shifted into another gear to not just assist businesses but provide that lifeline when it was badly needed,” Van Hook said.

Going south

Under Van Hook’s tenure, the center also continued growing its new consulting and outreach in Monroe County.

To purchase Key West Marine Hardware, the business his grandfather launched in 1963, Nick Formico knew he had to get up to speed quickly on all facets of the business, including the financials. He also needed help with writing a business plan because he needed a commercial loan to buy the company, so in 2021 he reached out to the FSBDC.

“Before I owned the store, I never really got into the financial side of it. I never got into the cash flow charts or anything like that,” Formico said. “The SBDC helped a lot with the business plan and the financial forecasting.”