Missouri Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC)
The Missouri Small Business and Technology Development Centers help businesses in every stage, from concept to startup and from existing to growth and invention. The Northwest Missouri State University SBTDC is a partnership program with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The SBTDC is one of over 30 centers in Missouri and one of over 1,000 SBTDCs in the United States. The Northwest SBTDC serves 18 counties in northwest Missouri with offices in Maryville, St. Joseph and Chillicothe.
The SBTDC provides confidential one-on-one counseling for small business owners, managers and prospective owners. Counseling services are provided on an individual basis to meet the needs of the specific company or business owner. Typical areas covered are startup processes, business planning and feasibility, financing/funding, marketing, and human resources to mention a few. The objective of this counseling is to provide a healthy small business community and to foster economic development, new business startups, expansion, new/retained jobs and sales growth.
In addition to the services listed above, the SBTDC works with Missouri Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (MO-PTAC) whose mission is to assist businesses in obtaining federal, state and local government contracts for products and services.
The SBTDC is also part of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), a mixed use incubator on the Northwest Missouri State University campus. The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship assists technology firms wishing to commercialize their innovation receive consultation and specialized services. One of these services is MoFAST, Missouri’s federal and state technology program. Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) specialized staff can assist companies with commercialized planning (Phases I, II, and III), agency evaluation and identification, proposal preparation, and post-award planning.