Set Up Shop in Penn Main

The Penn Main Business District is poised for significant growth. When Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh opens in 2008, some 3,000 staff plus visitors will want to shop, dine, and explore the Penn Main community. According to a study done by Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz School of Public Policy, employee spending in the Oakland neighborhood, the current location of Children’s Hospital, creates an estimated annual retail impact of $1,850,000. In addition, the community’s historic buildings are being renovated to their former grandeur. Many people are buying homes around Penn Main that are ideally priced and full of character.

Starting a new business? Check out these resources:

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA)

The URA operates housing programs and economic development programs, and an array of other activities including business assistance and financing, home ownership, and improvement financing. Visit them online at http://www.ura.org/index.html or call 412-255-6600.

The Small Business Development Center (SBDC)

The SBDC is a national program that is funded by the Small Business Administration (SBA), state, university, public and private agencies whose mission is to provide management and technical assistance to small businesses in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

The SBDC offers both one-to-one and team consulting to identify and address the problems of small business clients. The SBDC consultants provide management consulting tailored to fit the needs of you.

Through meetings with consultants, resource materials and written reports, small business owners receive expert and specialized guidance at no charge in the following areas:

• Marketing strategy and market research
• Advertising and sales promotion
• Financial planning and cash-flow analysis
• Accounting and basic recordkeeping
• Use of the Internet
• Loan proposal preparation
• Taxes
• Licensing procedures and regulations
• Personnel recruitment, benefits and policies
• Business organization structuring
• General business management

There are two local SBDCs, operating out of Duquesne University and the University of Pittsburgh. Their staff of professional consultants provides you with quality, no cost assistance and makes available a wealth of expertise, resources and need-to-know information that is critical to the survival of a growing business. It will be a valuable resource and provide you will many of the essential tools to proceed, especially if you are requesting funds from a public or private source.

Contact the SBDC at Duquesne University at www.duq.edu/sbdc or call 412-396-6233.

For information about the University of Pittsburgh’s SBDC program, visit www.sbdc.pitt.edu or call 412-648-1636.

Small Business Administration (SBA)

Along with, but separate from the SBDC, is the SBA. The SBA is a resource for financial assistance. If you are looking for a government grant or funding opportunities, your best bet is to go through the SBA. The SBDC will help put you in touch with someone to speak to, but all small business government funding requests go through the SBA.

The SBA (www.sba.gov or 412-395-6560) is an excellent resource to find out about financing programs, education and online courses. This is a government agency; these are your tax dollars at work and their services are free of charge.

Department of Community of Economic Development (DCED)

Pennsylvania has come a long way to make it easier for entrepreneurs to register their business. The website below provides online registration, applications forms, program information and networking. The website is www.paopenforbusiness.state.pa.us or call1-800-280-3801.