The WV Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and WVBusinessLink would like to remind any business who recently received federal SBIR/STTR funding that September 1st - 30th is one of only three windows of time annually to apply for potential State matching funds. The next funding window will be January, 2023. This...
Today's blog is a repost of Mr. Jens-Kristian Kiel's article written for the West Virginia Small Business Development Center's website. To find the original posting of this article, you can visit https://wvsbdc.com/seven-tips-for-marketing-your-small-business-to-the-right-audience/. Introduction As small business owners, we often focus on what we bring to the table — our products, services, operations,...
Small businesses across the United States reaped a record $154.2 billion in federal contracts in fiscal 2021. That’s a lot of moolah for Main Street. Of that amount, $237,957,568 flowed directly to West Virginia small businesses. Sounds like a hefty sum – and it is – until you consider the Mountain...
The Melting Pot Business ownership is like a melting pot. Not in the normal sense of different people coming together to form a community, but similar: it takes many different forms of personal experiences, education, actions, trials and errors, lessons learned, tears, sweat, long nights, hard work, and an unbelievable amount...
Are you aware that West Virginia lags far behind Appalachia, and the nation, in entrepreneurial and start-up activity? In fact, the Kauffman Foundation’s 2017 State Report found that WV ranked last in startup early job creation with a third as many jobs created as the leading state, and below the...
Today's blog is an excerpt from the article Understanding Cybersecurity Risk — Small Business Edition by Andrew S. Baker, president and CEO of Brainwave Consulting Company, LLC. This article can be read in it's unedited entirety on the WV SBDC website, which can be found here. A Subset of Overall Business...
West Virginia small businesses know a thing or two about “Building a Better America through Entrepreneurship", as nearly 99 percent of businesses in the Mountain State are considered small and they employ nearly half of the private sector workforce. Therefore it was fitting the U.S. Small Business Administration to choose...
Spotlight Programs: Lauren Prinzo Community & Economic Development Specialist WVU Extension Service Equity in Entrepreneurship Findings Update and Discussion West Virginia University is conducting in-person strategic planning meetings across West Virginia as part of an Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) POWER Technical Assistance grant aimed at expanding entrepreneurship opportunities for rural and low-income youth. The next round...
A Rapid Decline As we think about the future of our state, what does a vibrant West Virginia look like? We may all have varying answers, but one thing is certain – we can’t achieve it without thinking about the next generation. Unfortunately, West Virginia has the highest rate of population...
How do you define an Entrepreneur? If you refer back to 18th century France, you might define an entrepreneur as “a maker.” In fact, many believe that the term comes from the phrase “celui qui entreprend” or “one who gets things done”. Others say that entrepreneurs are people who fall in...
