Taking care of business
Southern centers help area companies recover after catastrophic storm.
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issouri Southern graduates, with tassels gleaming, eagerly waited for their moment on May 21 to receive that long-anticipated diploma. The next day, clouds of catastrophe overshadowed Joplin. The School of Business Administration faculty, students and staff experienced personal and profound losses of family members, homes, jobs and businesses. The campus community pulled together, giving of its time and resources to help those in need. One goal in the SOBA strategic plan is to facilitate business development to meet the needs of the community. That objective was realized and put to the test by two SOBA centers: the Small Business & Technology Development Center and the Heartland Procurement Technical Assistance Center, both housed on the first floor of Plaster Hall. The two groups worked to counsel and empower Joplin area business as they made plans to rebuild. Recovery efforts of the SBTDC Four days after the May 22 tornado, the MSSU Small Business & Technology Development Center opened the Business Recovery Center in conjunction with the Small Business Administration, Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Joseph Newman Business and Technology Innovation Center. In a matter of weeks, the center assisted 253 Joplin area businesses. In a typical year, the SBTDC counsels, on average, 200 businesses from Joplin and the surrounding counties. The Business Recovery Center is staffed by SBA customer service representatives to assist with home and business loans. The SBTDC’s role is to assist business owners with business plans, financial statement reconstruction, completion of loan paperwork, and assistance with resources for the businesses. The SBTDC staff, in conjunction with University of Missouri’s Extension, staff from the SBDC at Pittsburg State University, and statewide staff from the Missouri SBTDC program have served at the BRC, which is currently open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Evening, weekend and holiday hours were available in May and June. “Our goal is to assist business owners with good information to make informed decisions on the next steps they need to take after the disaster,” said Lisa Robinson, ’89, SBTDC director. “We 41 crossroads / fall 2011
have been here for the business owners, will continue to be here for them, and are excited for the upcoming program expansion to be able to serve more businesses.” The Joplin community formed the Citizens Advisory Recovery Team, which includes four groups, each focused on recovery issues in one of the following areas: infrastructure, environment, housing, neighborhood planning, schools, community facilities, and economic development. The economic development group is known as Joplin Business Recovery and Expansion Initiative, and Robinson serves on this group’s advisory board. The advisory board helps create better coordination and a quicker, more flexible response for business recovery and economic development. Additionally, the SBTDC staff had been working with the Missouri Department of Economic Development on two loan initiatives for area small business owners. Karen Bradshaw, SBTDC consultant and director of the Center for Entrepreneurship, said it was a busy but rewarding summer. “We are pleased to help business owners in their efforts to recover from the effects of the tornado and plan for the future,” Bradshaw said. The Missouri SBTDC has applied for additional SBA grant funding for Southern’s SBTDC. The SBA grant is required to
