Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce SBDC

llinois Small Business Development Center at UIC helps emerging and established business owners start, grow, and build prosperous ventures. Over the past decade the Illinois SBDC at UIC has served over 2000 entrepreneurs who launched 200 new businesses, creating 2600 jobs and securing over $85 million in funding. The Illinois SBDC at UIC offers in-person workshops, on-line snapshots, short courses, one-on-one mentoring, a business clinic to talk with an advisor, and referrals to expert resources that can help business owners better understand and access help with market analysis, business planning, debt financing, equity investment (friends & family, angel, VC), startup leadership and other important topics. Among the programs offered are: Business Start (a series of workshops for individuals interested in starting their own business) and Business Growth (a program that pairs growing companies with a talented MBA student consulting team). The Illinois SBDC at UIC also operates a Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Specialty or TIES initiative in order to provide small business consulting services to light-tech and high-tech based companies with high growth potential. Entrepreneurs in the technology industries can receive free assistance with all aspects of launching a new business or incorporating innovative technology into an existing business through the TIES program.