Development center gets reward, but no award

By Micah Gamino

Published: April 29, 2008

EDMOND — The director of a development center for fledgling small businesses in Oklahoma walked away from National Small Business Week in Washington without an award last week but still feels rewarded.

"We've got a well-run organization that is recognized nationwide,” said Susan Urbach, director of the University of Central Oklahoma office of the Oklahoma Small Business Development Center. "We're like the little economic engine that could.”

The center, which helps aspiring entrepreneurs start and maintain a small business, was one of 10 centers represented during National Small Business Week.

The national award is presented by the U.S. Small Business Administration during the annual weeklong conference, held last week in Washington. National Small Business Week is a collection of business owners, and university and government officials who come together to recognize small business efforts across the country.

The UCO center was invited to the conference after winning a regional award from the Small Business Administration in late March, Urbach said. The center beat out about 100 other centers from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Texas for the Small Business Development Center Excellence and Innovation Award.

"We're quite pleased with the regional designation,” Urbach said.

She said the center's regional victory is further evidence the publicly funded center is having a positive impact on the economy. The center, a bilingual organization run by three people including Urbach, created 89 new businesses and about 330 new jobs in Oklahoma last year.

"If you don't have healthy companies, then you don't have opportunities to provide the community with good jobs,” Urbach said.

James Faulconer, president of MIDI for Kids and a former professor of music theory and composition at UCO, once went to the center for help in starting his business. MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. The after-school music program has since helped about 1,500 students learn how to problem-solve through music.

"Oklahoma is really fortunate to have the devotion to purpose and inspirational guidance available through OSBDC,” Faulconer said. "Without Susan and OSBDC, our business would simply not exist.”

The UCO Small Business Development Center, created in 1984, is funded by the university, the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Oklahoma Commerce Department.

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