Posted February 3, 2025 | Read the full article on Boise State News
The Idaho Small Business Development Center Network offers confidential, no-cost business consultations and affordable training for entrepreneurs. It staffs six regional offices in Idaho, each affiliated with an institution of higher learning. Boise State and the College of Business and Economics host both the Southwest Idaho regional office and the state office.
“We are able to tap into the expertise of the college’s faculty, talented students and innovative programs to provide exceptional support to small businesses across Idaho,” State Director Doug Covey said. “What makes this relationship impactful is how it extends our reach into rural communities, where resources can be limited.”
The center offers the tools, training and consulting that small business owners need to grow, Covey said. “We’re ensuring that even the most remote Idaho communities have the opportunity to benefit.”
The power of partnerships
Centers operate in every state in the U.S. and its territories thanks to a 1980 congressional act recognizing the need for a program combining higher education, government and the private sector to support small businesses. Idaho’s centers receive funding from the federal government and the State of Idaho.
In 2023, Idaho’s Small Business Development Center’s offices collectively helped entrepreneurs generate over $750 million in business sales, create or retain 2,009 jobs and secure $63 million in capital. Consultants helped Idahoans create 122 new businesses.
Debbie Winkler, a senior business consultant in the Boise State office, comes to her role with a background in commercial and corporate banking, including credit underwriting and lending. She also created a Small Business Association lending program. Her 17 years with the center are emblematic of the longevity and expertise of its staff.
“In 2024, I worked with 144 different businesses each with their unique challenges, needs and projects crossing over all of the core areas of businesses. It’s a fast-paced environment with lots of juggling,” Winkler said.
Some days are challenging when her consulting focuses on issues like cash flow crunches and financing. Other days bring rewards, like when a new business gets a loan or hires a new employee. “My role with the Idaho SBDC has never felt like a job. I like making a difference when I can,” she said.
Idaho entrepreneurs help tell the story of Idaho’s Small Business Development Center.
Doug Croft: Lubrication Sciences International
Doug Croft, CEO of Lubrication Sciences in Nampa, Idaho, may define what it means to be a “Bronco’s Bronco.” The two-time graduate (BBA, accounting, 1997, EMBA, 2021) comes from a family with deep Idaho and Boise State roots. His father, H. David Croft, and his grandmother, Victoria Croft, graduated together in 1965 in Boise State College’s first baccalaureate class. Victoria Croft was a longtime employee in the registrar’s office. H. David Croft became a dentist with a practice in Caldwell, Idaho. Not only did Dr. Croft serve as president of the Alumni Association and the Bronco Athletic Association, he made the mouthguards for Bronco sports teams. Two endowed Croft family scholarships now support students.
Doug Croft credits the EMBA program and Professor Jim Browning with connecting him to engineering grant opportunities. His current business, Lubrication Sciences International, produces Dicronite, a dry film lubricant invented in the 1960s with help from NASA for use in aerospace applications.
“We’re a niche business,” Croft said. Dicronite is suitable for high-performance engines in extreme environments – very hot or cold, for example – where traditional wet lubricants don’t work well. In addition to aerospace, Croft’s company licenses Dicronite technology and brand to 11 companies for use in the automotive, medical, semiconductor and other industries.
“The SBDC has been fantastic,” said Croft, who returned home to Idaho in 2019 after a career working for international infrastructure organizations with posts in Libya, New Zealand and New York.
Croft’s company operates at the center’s accelerator space in Nampa, Idaho. “Finding an affordable, mixed-use facility with industrial space suitable to house large equipment as well as space for product research and trials is not easy, but is critical,” he said. While he is well-versed in business, he considers Marie Baker, regional director of the center’s Southwest Idaho office for the past six years, a trusted consultant.
“Marie understands numbers. We speak the same language,” he said.
Networking opportunities with other center-affiliated businesses have also been a great asset. “We’re all in the same boat — not having huge budgets, but sharing big ideas,” Croft said…
Read the full article on Boise State News.