Helping young people get a job — or create one

BY MATT VARILEK

Early in your career, you may have an eye on a certain company or organization you’d love to work for. But if you can’t find quite the right fit with a job that already exists, why not create it yourself with help from the U.S. Small Business Administration? At SBA, our mission is to help small business owners succeed and we’ve got great tools to help young people start their own businesses, based on their own ideas and vision.

Across our region, young people are taking the plunge into entrepreneurship, looking to start the next social media phenomenon, adding value in marketing and graphic design, or inventing brand new products that make the world a better place. But sometimes the best business ideas come from people who are new to building a business. That’s where the SBA can help.

Through a network of offices and partner organizations across North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota, we offer several proven tools and resources to help new entrepreneurs succeed. Specifically, our resources include the “3 C’s” — capital, contracting and counseling.

Capital: Our loan and equity investment programs help to put more capital in the hands of small businesses through a network of partner banks, credit unions, certified development companies and venture capital funds. Our partners can provide anything from a multimillion dollar piece of manufacturing equipment through our 504 loan program to a low-cost loan for a few thousand dollars through our Microloan program.

Counseling: We also offer business advice and training on topics like marketing, accounting and finance to more than a million aspiring entrepreneurs each year. This free and confidential assistance can boost the chances of your business turning a profit and improve your chances of securing the kind of financing you may need to grow.

Contracting: Finally, we help small business owners to pursue contracting opportunities with the federal government, including additional incentives and tools for women, veterans and disadvantaged businesses.

SBA knows young entrepreneurs have different sorts of needs. They are online and mobile, more so than any other group, so we’ve launched a new set of online tools with links to resources and free online courses geared specifically toward young entrepreneurs. Check it out at www.sba.gov/content/young-entrepreneurs.

Take a course or listen to our podcast for the essential steps in starting your business. These and other SBA resources will stimulate your thinking and move you forward on the path towards entrepreneurship. In addition, the new SBA online community posts articles and advice from tens of thousands of small business owners and fledgling entrepreneurs. Sometimes the best advice comes not from the “experts,” but from other young business people facing the same issues you are. Join the conversation at www.sba.gov/community.

If you’d prefer to explore these issues faceto-face or on the phone with an SBA adviser or resource partner, get in touch with your closest SBA office at www.sba.gov/direct.

We know from Facebook and Google and countless other businesses across the country that young people are changing the world and strengthening our economy through entrepreneurship. At SBA we’re working hard so that more young people can find jobs — and create them. PB

Matt Varilek SBA Regional Administrator, Region VIII matthew.varilek@sba.gov