The Florida Small Business Development Center Network (FSBDCN) announced its Performance Excellence Awards on August 1, 2023, with the Florida SBDC at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF) being named the 2023 Florida SBDC Region of the Year in recognition of the regional team providing a significant and direct contribution to the network, exceeding service and performance expectations, and demonstrating a strong commitment to small business. The FSBDC at UCF is one of nine FSBDCN regions in Florida.

The wisest, and often the most successful, entrepreneurs are the ones who acknowledge and embrace the old adage, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” For Scott Heitz, founder and owner of Modern Sourcing Solutions, a two-year old industrial supply distributor in Volusia County, his journey began by “just being humble in wanting to gather as much information as I could,” he explains. It was at the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF) that he found much of the market information he sought, as well as valuable no-cost consulting and support.

Imagine that you are an entrepreneurial small business presented with major growth opportunities in new, but unfamiliar, international markets. With little or no exporting experience, where should you turn for guidance and to learn what you need to know to be successful? For biodecontamination equipment manufacturer CURIS System and Jeff Woodson, its vice president, revenue operations, the answer was and is the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF) and its International Trade Services Program.

Starting a business – any business – can easily become a formidable endeavor. Doing it alone only increases the degree of difficulty. Make it a behavioral health clinic and the challenge can seem monumental. Gillie Acosta, founder and owner of Beha.Vio, Inc. – an applied behavior analysis (ABA) treatment facility in Davenport, FL – faced all of this and more when she decided to launch her company, leading her to connect with the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF) for guidance.

If two heads are better than one, then how valuable must a group of eight experts and consultants be when all are dedicated to helping you make your small business more successful? And all at no cost? Carlos Lofstedt, founder and CEO of NovoaGlobal, Inc. – an automated traffic enforcement pioneer – found himself in exactly that enviable position when he enrolled his company in the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida’s (FSBDC at UCF) award-winning Advisory Board Council program.