By Traci Delore
The North Central Small Business Development Center (NCSBDC), in conjunction with the New York Small Business Development Center and Onondaga Community College, launched a new pilot initiative designed to help established small businesses scale and grow.
While the center has historically shined as a “startup factory,” Robert Griffin, regional director of the NCSBDC, said Strategic Growth Services capitalizes on the center’s talented advisers to address the needs of existing businesses looking to grow.
“They spend so much time working in the business, they haven’t quite figured out how to work on the business,” Griffin said of businesses that can benefit from Strategic Growth Services.
The initiative, which is the product of a study funded by a grant from U.S. senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer to support supply chain development in microelectronics, builds on a model developed by the Michigan Small Business Development Center known as Focus Four.
At the NCSBDC, Strategic Growth Services will include Focus Four, which works with a company’s leadership team to build processes that align with the company’s growth plan, Griffin said. Focus Four helps business owners align vision, strategy, execution and cash flow to scale their companies effectively.
Additionally, there will also be a platform called Value Builder that engages directly with owners through a structured process to provide guidance on growing their businesses. It will also provide a non-certified evaluation of the business as well as monitor valuation as businesses progress through the program to see the impact, Griffin said.
Together, the two elements produce a “thoughtful and strategic way for businesses to move forward,” he added.
The NCSBDC offers Strategic Growth Services at no cost to business owners, but there are some criteria the center is looking for to qualify participants.
Target businesses have $800,000 or more in revenue, have been in business at least five years, have 10 or more employees and are willing to invest the time they need to learn how to grow.
The NCSBDC projects that over five years, Strategic Growth Services can support $400 million in business valuation growth and 7,000 net new jobs. That would equal about 10% valuation growth for a projected 1,200 companies, Griffin said.
One of those companies is Eagle Metalcraft, which hosted an event on March 17 to announce the launch of Strategic Growth Services and is the first participant in the initiative.
President and CEO Michael Bower is excited about the initiative, which he hopes will help Eagle Metalcraft grow to the next level.
“Being the size I am, we don’t really have the resources to spend on growth,” he said.
The company has hired consultants in the past without much success. Like many other small business owners, Bower wants to grow the business but didn’t know where to start.
While the overall Strategic Growth Services program focuses on company valuation, Eagle Metalcraft is focusing on sales because that is what it needs to grow, Bower said.
The 73-year-old company has taken a hit recently, with tariffs implemented in 2025 impacting about 50% of business and forcing the layoff of 10 employees, Bower said. The company, which now employs 20 people, builds precision sheet metal enclosures for industries including the semiconductor and electronics industries.
Bower is hopeful the company will grow enough to not only recall its laid-off employees but build from there.
“We’ve never had a sales process here,” he said.
Over the years, he has tried to develop one but struggled with the intimidating process. Strategic Growth Services will help him finally achieve that goal of developing a working plan to drive sales.
The key part, Bower said, is that he does not have to do it alone now.
“I could not afford to hire the resources this program is going to bring to me,” he said. “I think it’s a really great resource use of the Small Business Development Center advisers.”
The pilot initiative will begin with serving companies in Central New York through the NCSBDC. Griffin expects the center to learn a lot from participating clients as things move forward and will conduct periodic checkpoints to make sure the initiative is meeting its goals. The hope is to eventually expand the offering to the statewide SBDC network.
A key aspect behind targeting the Central New York region is the impending arrival of Micron Technologies, which is investing $100 billion to build a semiconductor fabrication facility in the town of Clay.
“It’s all hands on deck to ensure Central New York’s workers and small businesses are ready to maximize opportunity from this once in a generation investment,” Schumer said in a press release. “This new program will help OCC prepare small businesses to thrive by plugging into the semiconductor supply chain being built for Micron’s growth as well as expanding into other high-tech industries, all of which will create new, good-paying jobs.
“Onondaga Community College is proud to support this pilot, strengthening local businesses and strengthening our communities, workforce and regional economies,” Mark Manning, senior vice president and chief financial officer at the college, said in a release. “We’re proud that this important initiative is launching here in our region, and we look forward to the impact it will have on our businesses and communities across New York state.”
Although Schumer and Gillibrand provided grants to fund the initiative, Griffin pointed out that CenterState CEO guided how those grant funds were allocated. “When I presented this concept, they wholeheartedly endorsed it,” he said.
“We’re excited about taking those mid-stage businesses to the next level,” CenterState CEO senior vice president of inclusive growth Nora Spillane said in a release. “We’re excited to help focus some of these resources and opportunities into where they can be the most useful.”
