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SCORE Offers Helping Hand to Small Business
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Business New Haven
5/1/2000
By: BNH
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“We volunteer our expertise to cultivate America's economic growth.” That's the motto of the Service Corps of Retired Executives, better known as SCORE.
Sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration, SCORE volunteers across the county (as well as Guam and Puerto Rico) volunteer their services free of charge to assist those wishing to start a new business or who need help in straightening out problems in an existing business.
“People who own businesses come to us with a variety of problems and we give them guidance, free of charge,” explains Jose Canas, chairman of SCORE's New Haven chapter. “Most problems involve people who want to expand and need a business plan or action plan and presentation for bank financing with or without a Small Business Administration guarantee. They're trying for private placement - raising money in the public market by going to a venture capitalist or others through private selection.
“In addition, we have firms that have a particular business problem to resolve in terms of marketing, operations or financial,” Canas adds. “They need financial advice or assistance. We call this program 'House Calls,' where SCORE volunteers with a particular expertise actually visit the site or business to discuss and advise management in those particular areas.
SCORE's New Haven office at 25 Science Park is open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays. Chapter volunteers conduct both workshops and individual consulting engagements. SCORE offers pre-start-up business workshops the third Wednesday of each month (except August) and run consulting sessions on an individual basis every Thursday. Often consulting engagements are done on a one-to-one mutual arrangement with the client, says Canas.
The 21 SCORE volunteers in New Haven are retired, semi-retired or still working and have a variety of skills in the world of business. Workshops sometimes cost $20 per person to cover the cost of printed materials unless the workshop is underwritten by a local business. In 1999 SCORE had 60,000 client contacts nationally, with some 2,000 of those in the New Haven area.
“We average about 15 people in each of our workshops,” says Canas, “and now we do Web to Web consulting through the SBA. We get the references through the SBA and we maintain our own Web site, www.score@sba.gov.”
Workshops cover subjects including financing, developing a business plan, legal aspects of business, marketing, business insurance, computer programs for business and federal and state tax obligations. “We're in constant contact with the SBA,” Canas says, “and in fact, a representative is assigned to our office.
“People who come to us with a problem in an existing business tend to wait until they are really in trouble - say, with the IRS,” Canas says. “It's important for people to understand that all information given us is confidential. All of our counselors abide by an association code of ethics, which means protecting the confidences between client and counselor.
“We have real-world experiences in business, and what we get out of being counselors is the satisfaction that we can share our knowledge,” says Canas. “We can help you start a business, operate one, buy one or a franchise or give you advice on how to sell it.”
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