Nebraska Business Development Center Decodes Tricky Facets of Entrepreneurship

When offered a price for their thoughts, most people seem content with a penny. But the Nebraska Business Development Center would be selling itself short by accepting such meager compensation for its expertise. In 2009, the NBDC consulted some 3,454 Nebraska businesses, increasing their collective sales by $116,993,589, according to state director Robert Bernier.

Founded in 1977, the NBDC is an umbrella program that helps business across the state — be they large or small, profit or non-profit — by providing advice, training and answers to some of business’s more intricate questions. Last year alone, the NBDC aided in the creation of 331 new businesses, and the 1419 jobs that came with them.

“My favorite part of my job is seeing businesses grow and prosper,” Bernier said. “Most of our clients come to us from banks. They go to the bank and want a loan, but don’t qualify because they don’t have the proper documentation or business plan. We package the loan for them: We do the proper documentation and we help them plan so they can qualify.”

Nearly one-third of all Small Business Administration guaranteed loans made to Nebraska businesses are packaged by the NBDC, Bernier added. The center actually comprises eight offices spanning the state: Omaha, Wayne, Auburn, Lincoln, Kearney, North Platte, Scottsbluff and Chadron.

Marisol U. Rodriguez, director of the Lincoln branch, said the center should be the first stop for fledgling business owners. In addition to offering guidance garnered from several decade’s worth of experience, the center also reviews business plans, provides secondary market research (which can be obtained from marketing firms for a price) completely free of charge and assists in developing financial projections and financial analysis for funding applications.

“I also work with professors from (the University of Nebraska-Lincoln) who want to start businesses based around new technologies being developed at the university,” Rodriguez said. “We help new or existing entrepreneurs develop financial projections, and guide them through the process if they want to start a new business or are looking to fund an existing one.”

Last year, the Lincoln center assisted an average of one person per day, Rodriguez added. That number includes 40 of what she called “continuous cases,” those instances in which the NBDC helped prospective entrepreneurs through the whole process of starting a new business.

Aside from recommending they stop by the NBDC to get their businesses off the ground, Rodriguez had the following advice for business owners, both budding and experienced.

“You need to understand the needs of the market and how you can satisfy those needs,” she said. “If you can understand that, you’ll be able to organize your business in a way that you’ll be able to find clients more easily. You’ll be more successful.”

Click HERE for a full list of NBDC programs available to Nebraska business owners.