Success story:
Chiropractic Wellness Center of South County
Young chiropractor team enlists help from MO SBTDC to seek financial backing for new practice in Fenton
Long before they completed their degrees in chiropractic medicine, Dr. Lorenelle Lofquist and Dr. Angela Woodson knew they would start a practice in southwest St. Louis County.
A clinician on the faculty at Logan College of Chiropractic Medicine — Dr. Aimee Jokerst — had talked separately with the two students to learn what they wanted to do after graduation. They responded in like manner.
Both confessed a desire to serve patients first and foremost, and to work in an atmosphere where they were free to practice their high standards of patient care. Both planned to start a private practice. With such similar goals, Jokerst urged the two to talk with each other about their futures.
They had the training, the talent, the drive, the philosophical grounding and the right attitudes to make a success of such a venture. They even had access to a pool of funds from family members. But both Lofquist and Woodson refused to rely on the largesse of relatives. The two enterprising young women wanted to make it on their own. So before graduation last April, they launched a search for backing from commercial lenders.
"The problem was that most banks wanted 100 percent down for collateral and all we could offer was 50 percent," recalls Lofquist. "Other banks just were not providing SBA-backed loans."
Read this complete story with additional photos.
MACC business specialists among many statewide assisting in Joplin recovery
Millions have watched the devastation following the May 22, tornado in Joplin. Thousands have caravanned to southern Missouri to sift through piles of debris that represented the lives and businesses of Joplin residents. Still others have come to help rebuild the homes, stores, schools and offices that literally no longer exist. Some have traveled to offer more specialized aid.
On Aug. 1, Danny Lobina, director of the Small Business and Technology Development Center at Moberly Area Community College's Entrepreneurship and Business Development Center, traveled with Kimberly Erwin, EBDC business and industry specialist, to Joplin to counsel Joplin business owners on what to do to rebuild their lives and livelihoods.
With their stint Lobina and Erwin joined a long line of Missouri SBTDC business specialists from around the state (see sidebar below) to help devastated business owners in Joplin for several months following the epic storm. Their efforts augmented the work of the local SBTDC staff at Missouri Southern State University.
Lobina and Erwin saw first-hand the massive devastation and destruction while they toured Joplin's business and residential areas. The mile-wide storm ripped a six mile-long path through the town, destroying more than 8,000 homes and businesses.
"It was a life-changing experience viewing the breadth of the destruction first-hand and realizing that every business in its path was altered in some way, whether physically or economically," explained Lobina.
In addition to Danny Lobina, a succession of Missouri SBTDC business counselors from around the state offered their services to the MSSU SBTDC staff (Lisa Robinson, Karen Bradshaw and Ken Surbrugg) during weeklong stints at the Business Recovery Center, established four days after the May 22 tornado. Counseling assistance was offered by Darrell Brammer, Larry Lee, Kim Erwin, Lynette Watson, Virgil Woolridge, Rayanna Anderson, Tara Horton, Jim Gann, Isabel Eisenhauer, Kelly Dyer, Mick Gilliam, Chrystal Irons, Kathy Macomber, Jackie Rasmussen, and Chris Shoemaker. These business counselors traveled from their offices in Kansas City, St. Louis, Springfield, Columbia, Warrensburg and other areas in Missouri.
Today, a permanent recovery office has been established — the BIG (Business Initiative and Growth) Hub — in the local Innovation Center, adjacent to the Joplin Chamber of Commerce. Shawn Wininger, a Joplin native and business counseling specialist with the Missouri Southern State University SBTDC, is the recently appointed counselor at BIG Hub.
"This is the most rewarding position I've ever had," says Wininger, himself a former business owner when he lived in Oregon. "I feel I'm contributing directly to the recovery of many of these local businesses. When you see the light bulb going on in their faces as they truly understand recovery is a real possibility, it makes me realize our efforts are definitely worthwhile."
Lobina and Erwin set up shop in the Joseph Newman Innovation Center of the Joplin Chamber of Commerce, where the temporary Business Recovery Center was housed. Over the course of three days, they counseled eight business clients who lost everything in the tornado. They contacted and scheduled future appointments for more than 30 individuals that lost their business. They followed up with others who wanted to propose a new business idea they had brainstormed in the rush to rebuild Joplin.
The two business counselors passed along all of the information they learned from each client and assured them that a local SBTDC counselor would be contacting them to make sure their needs were met. Unfortunately, some of the clients did not have their businesses insured so they literally lost everything.
One such client was the owner of local café. He sat across the plastic folding table from Lobina and Erwin explaining his dilemma. As he spoke, still in shock from his loss, his hands shook uncontrollably. He explained the insurance on his small restaurant was too expensive to maintain, so he'd dropped it. His restaurant was leveled. Lobina and Erwin offered all the advice they could and walked him through the process of applying for a disaster relief loan from the state Department of Economic Development.
"It's difficult to give people advice on how to rebuild their businesses when I know that they have lost everything including all of their assets. Many of the people we counseled did not have proper business insurance making it nearly impossible for them to rebuild or qualify for a disaster relief loan," said Lobina.
They counseled an owner of a digital media company that did not have physical damage, but lost 90 percent of his sales volume due to the tornado devastating the market. They counseled an entrepreneur that wanted to start a solar panel manufacturing and sales business in the midst of the destruction. They answered phones and fielded questions and completed forms. And they were sometimes painfully honest with clients who had no way of rebuilding their former lives. In the midst of it all, they were surprised at the level of care and concern these Joplin folks had for their neighbors.
One of their clients took them on a tour of the tornado's path. He described what businesses were missing on the virtual desert wasteland expanse they passed. Erwin said many places looked like a Third World country. They heard story after story during their visit about the tragedies of people just like themselves and the heroic efforts of the perfect strangers who are making life bearable for the thousands of still displaced residents.
"I wish the citizens of Joplin all the best and hope that their recovery effort continues to progress. I will never forget the experience of helping those clients who were in desperate need of sound business advice. It was an honor to lend them a helping hand," said Lobina.
UMKC SBTDC recognizes business innovators at annual entrepreneurship event
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Fourteen outstanding clients of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Small Business & Technology Development Center received recognition last month during the program's Entrepreneur Celebration on the UMKC campus. The event brought together a variety of business, community, city, state and university leaders to celebrate Kansas City's entrepreneurial legacy and to highlight the achievements and successes of Missouri companies that are leading the way in entrepreneurship and innovation.
Carmen DeHart (second from left) and her staff at the UMKC SBTDC honored more than a dozen Kansas City businesses at the recent UMKC SBTDC Missouri Entrepreneur Celebration. Winners in the event's three categories were Craig Valentine (left), president and CEO of Flava Cap LLC, Innovation in Business; Dave Alburty, CEO of InnovaPrep LLC, Innovation in Technology; and Jane Gotch, founder of Jane Gotch Dance, Innovation in Art.
Highlight of the celebration was the presentation of the annual Excellence in Innovation Awards to three of the 14 Missouri businesses featured at the event. The winners and the other 11 finalists represent three categories of entrepreneurship: Innovation in the Arts; Innovation in Business; and Innovation in Technology.
"The 15 businesses that we honored at the Missouri Entrepreneurs Celebration are shining and successful examples of companies that have combined entrepreneurship and innovation to make a positive impact on the community, workforce, Missouri economy, as well as their own bottom line," said Carmen DeHart, director of the UMKC SBTDC.
The 2011 Excellence in Innovation awardees were:
- Innovation in Art - Jane Gotch Dance
What if what people really wanted was not a spectacle but an intimate human connection? That's the motivation behind Jane Gotch's art — and the question behind WE!, Gotch's innovative, collaborative installation dance performance staged earlier this year in an abandoned downtown office space formerly occupied by AT&T. Gotch is currently in the beginning stages of a new project, PORCHES. Scheduled to open in the summer of 2013, PORCHES is a site-specific, community-touring performance, inspired by Kansas City's front porches.
Video: http://vimeo.com/artistinc/jane-gotch-dance
- Innovation in Business - Flava Cap, LLC
Vitamin water, bottled tea, energy drinks, fruit drinks: the bottles sit on the shelves as the premixed ingredients drift to the bottom of the bottle or lose their potency. And single-serve powdered mixes are messy and easily spilled. Flava Cap has figured out a way to keep these ingredients in the bottle and at their full strength. Its patent-pending technology is a bottle cap that releases powdered ingredients when twisted onto any bottle of water. The caps are sold independently and fit any standard, single-serve water bottle. With this concept, Flava Cap taps into an enormous global beverage market.
Video: http://vimeo.com/umkcsbtdc/flava-cap
- Innovation in Technology - Innovaprep, LLC
There's a serious gap in biological detection technologies between the size of real-world environmental and clinical sample volumes and the size of sample volumes that can actually be analyzed by biological detectors. InnovaPrep's patented and patent-pending technologies fill that gap. InnovaPrep improves the way biological samples, especially those containing pathogenic organisms, are collected and prepared for analysis. InnovaPrep serves many fields — from bioterrorism defense to food and beverage safety and quality control — that all share a common need: find and identify pathogens as rapidly and accurately as possible.
Video: http://vimeo.com/umkcsbtdc/innovaprep
Other businesses featured at the celebration included: (Innovation in Arts) Bread!KC, Chris Dahlquist Fine Art, LaLa Studio, Plug Projects; (Innovation in Business) Matrix Medical, Old World Spices and Seasonings, Shamerrific; (Innovation in Technology) Androjek, Craig Safety Technologies Inc., EV Instruments, Wideband Corp.
Jobs Act incentives led to record SBA loan approval volume in FY 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Spurred in part by unprecedented loan volume in the year's first quarter, small business loans backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration in fiscal year 2011 reached the highest mark in the agency's history, supporting more than $30 billion, continuing the rebound begun in 2009 and returning to healthy pre-recession levels in the final three quarters of the year.
"SBA-backed lending continued the upward trend we saw last year," said Karen Mills, SBA administrator. "Due to the Small Business Jobs Act and a return to pre-recession lending levels, over 61,000 small businesses had access to capital. Small businesses are the backbone of the economy and SBA has been there to help them rebound through difficult times over the past few years. First through the Recovery Act and then through the Small Business Jobs Act and new SBA lending programs, SBA has provided small businesses with the tools they need so they can grow and create jobs. As SBA lending levels continue to indicate a rebound in small business lending, we will work through new programs to fill the gaps created in the marketplace."
During the fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, SBA loan approvals supported $30.5 billion (61,689 loans) in lending to small businesses and start-ups through its two largest loan programs, compared to $22.6 billion (60,771 loans) in FY 2010 and $17.9 billion (50,830 loans) in FY 2009.
The FY 2011 total is the highest-volume fiscal year in the agency's history, surpassing the $28.5 billion mark established in FY 2007. The first quarter of the year, at more than $12 billion supported, was the most active single quarter ever for SBA-backed loans with more than four times the dollar volume of the same quarter in 2009 — the first three months of the recession — and more than doubles the volume of any quarter during the past four years.
The unprecedented quarter was prompted by the enhancements provided under the Small Business Jobs Act, which were in effect. The loan enhancements allowed SBA to raise the guarantee on its 7(a) loans to 90 percent and waive fees on both its 7(a) and 504 loans.
While SBA lending has returned to pre-recession lending levels, there continue to be gaps in the marketplace and small businesses that need access to capital. To help fill these gaps, SBA created two new lending programs in FY 2011: Community Advantage and Small Loan Advantage. The Advantage lending programs provide streamlined applications for loans less than $250,000 with the standard 7(a) guarantee in order to encourage lenders to make smaller-dollar loans. The smaller-dollar loans often go to underserved communities. Additionally, Community Advantage increases the points of access for small businesses by allowing "mission focused" lenders, such as CDFIs and micro-lending intermediaries, the ability to make 7(a) loans.
In FY 2011, SBA added 30 new lenders to the 7(a) lending program through the Community Advantage program.
The total for the year also included approximately $5.8 billion in loans to more than 16,000 start-up small businesses, the most since FY 2008.
Business going green
Hospitality professionals from across the state examine sustainability issues for the industry
A first-time symposium on sustainable hospitality attracted several dozen managers and educators in the field to Columbia last month. Sponsored by the MU Environmental Assistance Center, part of MU Extension's Business Development Program, the event focused on marketing, facilities management, and sustainable food systems for restaurants and hotels.
Included in the group were hotel and restaurant managers, representatives from the Missouri State Lodging and Hotel Association, and educators in hotel and restaurant management, according to Leah Christian, symposium organizer.
"Our intent was to offer a forum for hospitality professionals from across the state to share information on sustainability practices and challenges in their industry," said Christian. "They examined ways of elevating state and local sustainable hospitality programs, including increasing the adoption of applicable practices and fostering innovation."
The symposium was made possible with a grant from MU Extension's Energy Program and the continuing support of the Environmental Protection Agency.
"I am excited because today partnerships were formed that will advance sustainability in the hospitality sector," Christian said, following the event. "Everyone who attended this forum now understands the importance of working together to protect our resources for future generations."
Visit the Hospitality Industry Pollution Prevention section of the website to learn strategies for greening hospitality facilities. Pollution prevention strategies are offered for several other business sectors on the website.
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Funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.
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