The owner of The Fry Pie Lady talks with OU SBDC Advisor, Erin Gibson, about her experience receiving assistance from the Small Business Development Center. Find out how the owner of The Fry Pie Lady found OU SBDC services helpful.
The Ohio Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service is funded through the Small Business Administration, Ohio Department of Development, and Ohio University. This funding enables the SBDC to provide no-cost, confidential business assistance by Certified Business Advisors® to for-profit businesses in our area. In addition to hosting the SBDC, the Ohio University Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service is the home of TechGROWTH Ohio, a technology start-up accelerator for Southeast Ohio, and APEX, a program to assist businesses in securing government contracts.
Located in rural Appalachia, the Ohio SBDC at Ohio University serves a 13-county region, including: Athens, Meigs, Hocking, Perry, Fairfield, Licking, Washington, Morgan, Noble, Monroe, Muskingum, Guernsey, and Belmont counties. We understand that businesses within this 13-county footprint face unique challenges. Not only are we situated within rural Appalachia, where infrastructure may be limited, but several of our counties are federally designated as economically depressed or at-risk. The Ohio SBDC at Ohio University also operates the Export Assistance Program in 20 southeastern Ohio counties. In addition to the thirteen counties listed above, the Export Assistance Program assists businesses with exporting in Scioto, Lawrence, Jackson, Gallia, Pike, Ross, and Vinton counties.
As part of the national SBDC network, the Ohio SBDC at Ohio University is one of over 1,000 centers nationwide and one of 28 centers within the State of Ohio. Our Certified Business Advisors® provide no-cost, one-on-one advising, and business training in a variety of topics.
In 2024, the Ohio SBDC at Ohio University was awarded with the Best Customer Satisfaction Award for achieving a net promotor score of 100% and a high overall customer satisfaction survey rating. The Ohio SBDC at Ohio University received the award for ‘Best Overall Performance by a Center in 2022. The Ohio University SBDC was recognized with the Small Business Development Center Excellence and Innovation Award for the SBA’s Region V for 2017. The Ohio SBDC at Ohio University was chosen as the top center out of approximately 90 centers throughout six states: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.