CADILLAC, Mich., (WPBN/WGTU) — Baker College is expanding its role in the Cadillac community by partnering with the Michigan Small Business Development Center (SBDC).
This new regional collaboration aims to support entrepreneurs and boost local economies across ten northwest Michigan counties.
Entrepreneurs in northwest Michigan now have a new resource at Baker College in Cadillac, which has become the regional home for the Michigan SBDC.
This partnership offers free consulting, training, and business support for business owners across the region.
“When I was looking throughout all of the region, I was looking at different organizations, we put out a request for proposals. We looked at all the different ones and Baker is just incredible in that they match our mission and vision. Their goal is to reach out throughout the entire community. So one of my things that I looked at when we were evaluating it was, what do people think about the college? What do they think about what they’re doing? And it was overwhelmingly positive,” said Matthew Welch, Northwest Regional Director of the Michigan SBDC.
The partnership will not only expand services to local business owners but also provide Baker students with real-world entrepreneurship experiences.
“We envision our students to be actively involved with the SBDC, whether that’s helping the team with small business proposals, whether that’s internship opportunities, but we do see a wide range of opportunities there. And our goals in academics is really to give our students real-world experience, not just in the classroom but out in the communities that we serve,” said Randy Hill, Vice President of Academic Affairs at Baker College.
The partnership will be officially celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on September 17.
Both organizations hope it will be the first of many success stories in northwest Michigan’s business community.