Tuesday, June 6 – The Pikes Peak SBDC “2nd Annual State of Small Business” with the UCCS Economic Forum was an informative and fun-filled morning. The speakers (Kelly Manning, Tatiana Bailey, Aikta Marcoulier, Dennis Casey, Rosy McDonough, Mike Hardin, Sarah Humbargar) provided insights into the economics of small business at the national, state and local levels; the economic impact data of the Pikes Peak SBDC and a brief overview of key local metrics. Highlights were:
Legislative Updates
- The Small Business Cybersecurity Act of 2016 provided SBDCs with funds to improve consulting and training on cybersecurity. The Pikes Peak SBDC has the lead in Colorado and is already rolling out new training.
- The President’s Budget includes a 12% cut for SBDCs, which could greatly impair their ability to execute their mission. As a reminder – SBDCs are not a government handout because they teach and enable small businesses how to grow. If this is important to you, recommend reaching out to your representatives to express your view.
Small Businesses are critical to the Colorado economy
- 596,210 small businesses (or 99.5% of all Colorado businesses) employ 1.1 million people (or 48.6% of all Coloradoans).
- Small businesses generated 31.9% of Colorado’s $7.7B in total known exports
Colorado Resources for Small Businesses
Numerous resources exist to help small businesses including OEDIT, SBDCs, PTAC and SCORE.
- Colorado SBDCs provide invaluable resources. In 2016, the Colorado SBDCs provided consultants for 6,229 businesses; trained 11,931 attendees; created 3,804 jobs; increased sales by $95,890,664; and helped start 461 businesses.
- Colorado PTAC also provides invaluable resources for small businesses to sell products and services to the federal, state and local governments. PTAC has more than 3000 clients winning more than $270M in government contracts. PTAC provided 4,709 counseling sessions and over 200 training events.
