About

The Colorado Small Business Development Center (SBDC), which is a partnership between the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and America’s Small Business Development Center Network (ASBDC), is the federal government’s largest and most successful management and educational assistance program for small businesses. But where did it all begin? Let’s start nationally. 

In 1953 President Dwight Eisenhower (he was number 34) signed the Small Business Act into law which created the Small Business Administration (SBA). Their mission is to aid, counsel, assist and protect, insofar as is possible, the interests of small business concerns. It also is charged with ensuring that small businesses earn a "fair proportion" of government contracts and sales of surplus property. It’s very wordy and nerdy but the SBA is meant to represent and advocate for small entrepreneurs across the U.S. to the federal government.

Bringing it home to Colorado, the Colorado SBDC was born in 1987 to the parents of the Community Colleges of Colorado. It was then put up for adoption in 1989, at the young age of two, and adopted by the Governor’s Office of Business Development, now the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT), where it lives today. Through nourishment and care, the Colorado SBDC has grown to many statewide, community-based physical locations. Find your local SBDC.

The Colorado SBDC works to build and advance Colorado's small business community. Access our annual report to learn about our efforts over the previous year.

The Colorado SBDC is funded through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The SBDC Network is a partnership between the State of Colorado, Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, the Small Business Administration (SBA), Colorado’s institutions of higher education, local economic development organizations and local chambers of commerce.

Accreditation is important for each Small Business Development Center and is essential for the national SBDC program to be recognized as a provider of high-quality business advising and education that results in credible economic impact.