Springfield Business Journal_2019-03-18

COMPANY AWARDS BP Builders LLC Base Construction & Management LLC Burrell Behavioral Health GigSalad Guaranty Bank Haven Healthcare LLC BriteCore Keller Williams Greater Springfield Little Sunshine’s Playhouse and Preschool Inc. OakStar Bank Russell Cellular Inc. Wilson Logistics Inc. Judges’ Choice: Prime Inc. TOP LOCAL INDIVIDUAL AWARDS Executive Tim Massey Penmac Staffing Services Inc. Financial Executive Brenda Rantz Nixa Public Schools Sales & Marketing Executive Jann Holland CoxHealth Human Resource Professional Marilyn Jeffries Greene County Employee of the Year Morgan Kelly Ozark School District 2019 2 • T I C K E T S • D 1 2 • T I C K E T S • D 1 2 • T I C K E T S MAY 23 • 5:30 PM BARLEY HOUSE AT MOON TOWN CROSSING PURCHASE TICKETS AT SBJ.NET/D12 PRESENTED BY 52 · SBJ.NET MARCH 18-24, 2019 OPINION S ince it is Women’s History Month, I would like to pose a question: What do 6,111 women in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa all have in common? They each visited a Women’s Business Center in the U.S. Small Business Admin- istration’s Region 7 during fiscal 2018 and are now starting or operating a business. Nationally, the SBA supports 114 WBCs that contribute to tremendous growth for the businesses they serve – creating $1.7 bil- lion in revenue and 17,000 new jobs. Coun- seling, training and mentorship through other SBA resource partners including Small Business Development Centers, SCORE chapters and the SBA’s Woman Owned Small Business program helped even more women succeed as entrepreneurs. These women are on the forefront of small-business growth, among the 39 per- cent of all privately held firms that are majority-owned by women. As SBA Admin- istrator Linda McMahon noted in congres- sional testimony last month, women are the fastest-growing segment of small businesses. The SBA supports women in a variety of ways and is adding new ways to keep up with the demand for specialized training, mentoring and financing programs. These services can be real game changers for own- ers like Kimberly Coad of Salina, Kansas. A dental assistant instructor, Coad ac- cessed the women’s programs at her local SBA office, secured SCORE mentoring, and took advantage of the SBDC’s counseling and training resources to become an entre- preneur. The programs helped Coad create Compass Medical Provider in 2010, a com- pany that aimed to provide better dental service to servicemen and servicewomen. She has grown it into an enterprise that provides various health care services for military personnel and other government and public workers both at clinics and at her mobile units. She earned certifications through the SBA’s women-owned small business program and business develop- ment program, which helped her capture federal subcontracting and contracting op- portunities. The company has grown to 10 professional employees as well as contract- ed with part-time professional employees in mobile units coast to coast. SBA programs and services really are for every life cycle of a business. After an en- trepreneur starts a business, the SBA con- tinues to offer services to them. In Coad’s case, the SBA helped her evaluate her read- iness for government contracting, regis- ter as a government contractor, navigate the federal rules and qualify for contracts through small-business set-aside programs. The SBA’s Office of Government Con- tracting and Business Development tracks the government’s goal of having 5 percent of all federal contracting dollars awarded to women-owned small businesses. A total of $20.8 billion in prime government contracts were awarded to 19,523 women-owned small businesses, supporting more than 115,000 jobs in fiscal 2017. More than 82,000 jobs were created or supported through the $15 billion in federal subcontracting. Women who own 51 percent or more of their small business may be certified as eli- gible to bid on federal contracts by visiting SBA.gov/wosb. The SBA recognizes that women have contributed greatly to small-business his- tory, and that’s why we fully support, pro- mote and endorse women entrepreneurs through free and low-cost programs. Tom Salisbury is the regional administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration Region VII, which covers Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska. He previously worked as the small- business liaison for U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt and in lending for UMB Bank. Salisbury can be reached at thomas.salisbury@sba.gov. GUEST COLUMN Tom Salisbury Women owners key to small-business economy IN PERSPECTIVE