City of Austin Small Business Development Program

Description

The Small Business Development Program (SBDP)assists existing small business owners to expand their businesses and hopeful entrepreneurs to get started. We do this through BizAid orientations where individuals can learn the basics of getting started in business, through BizAid Business Education, which includes classes on a variety of topics, and BizAid Accessing Capital which allows the small business owner to gain information to obtain the financing they need for their business. SBDP also offers the Business Solutions Center which offers twelve workstations with high speed Internet access, business opportunity website subscriptions, business plan software, desktop publishing software and various books and publications for entrepreneurs. We annually offer an Industry Specific Conference that is conducted across an entire day, specifying all the steps needed in starting a business in that year's conference topic. SBDP also hosts an annual "Meet the Lender" event in which small business owners can meet more than 40 lenders in one place at one time, saving time and resources. Finally, the SBDP has created the "Gold Pages" - a self-referral resource guide to 50 organizations in the Austin area dedicated to assisting small businesses.