Sedalia, Missouri – April 28, 2022 – The University of Missouri Extension – Business Development Program recognized State Fair Community College’s Missouri Small Business Development Center (MOSBDC) and its Director Kelly Asbury for several accomplishments at its April professional development conference.
SFCC’s Asbury and its MOSBDC received recognition for placing in the Top 5 for Highest Number of Counseling Hours. The MOSBDC at SFCC received one of six Overall Performance Center Awards for creatively serving clients, building relationships with stakeholders, and working hard to enhance the Missouri SBDC presence in the college’s MOSBDC region. The college’s MOSBDC also received the Most Innovative Center Award for recognizing and engaging in creative approaches to work, including training, counseling, partnership building, and network collaboration.
The MOSBDC helps business owners make confident decisions to start, grow and promote their businesses. Services are provided to all Missouri counties and the city of St. Louis in the form of training events and one-to-one counseling by appointment.
As director, Asbury is responsible for providing business consulting, access to training and resources to help Missourians identify and develop ideas to successfully start, manage, grow, and expand their businesses. SFCC’s MOSBDC serves the citizens in 12 counties: Bates, Benton, Camden, Cass, Henry, Hickory, Johnson, Lafayette, Morgan, Pettis, Saline, and St. Clair. Asbury coordinates on-site and online seminars and training that covers topics from how to start and manage a small business to how to market and use social media to grow it.
Asbury became the director of the MOSBDC team in 2017, which is a part of SFCC’s The LearningForce office that coordinates community continuing education and custom workforce training initiatives. Asbury graduated from SFCC in 2001 with an Associate of Arts and received a Bachelor’s in Management in 2013 from Central Methodist University. She has more than 25 years of experience in owning and managing small businesses.
Through a partnership between the Small Business Administration, Missouri University Extension Business Development program, and State Fair Community College, the MOSBDC at the college is able to provide no-cost business consulting and low-cost trainings to small businesses within the 12 counties the center and Asbury serve. She and the SFCC center have assisted clients in acquiring just under $15.1 million in loans/capital, creating 175 jobs, starting of 90 new businesses, counseling 742 clients, and providing 234 trainings for 1,924 participants since the MOSBDC at SFCC opened.
For more information about SFCC’s MOSBDC, contact Asbury at kasbury1@sfccmo.edu or (660) 596-7350.
