The organization matches the skills and experience of the volunteers with a business that needs expert advice. About 14,000 men and women business executives participate in the program and share their management and technical expertise with present and prospective owners and managers of small businesses. There is no charge for the counseling, but there may be a nominal fee for the training programs.
Volunteers offer counseling in distribution channels, expansion potential, and product changes.
They offer workshops to present and prospective small business entrepreneurs within the local community. The service is not tied to any SBA loan. This branch of the SBA sponsors 57 SBDCs in 50 states as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. More specialized programs include services to inventors with patentable products, international trade centers for how-to export and import advice, business law information and guidance, procurement matching, venture capital formation, and small business incubators. The SBA sponsors more than 500 SBIs in all states and territories in order to offer small business owners an opportunity to receive intensive management counseling from qualified college level business students working under expert faculty guidance.