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Valerie Marr outlines free SBA counseling and local resource partners for Houston entrepreneurs
Summary
Valerie Marr, lead economic development specialist at the SBA Houston District Office, described free counseling and training available to entrepreneurs through SCORE, SBDC, women's business centers and veteran outreach, and pointed listeners to sba.gov/tx/houston for events and email updates.
Valerie Marr, lead economic development specialist at the Small Business Administration's Houston District Office, told HTV listeners the SBA’s counseling resources connect entrepreneurs with free, one-on-one advisors and training across the Houston region.
"We do workshops, we do panels, we do business expos, whether they be in person or virtual, and we really team up with our partner organizations here in the Houston area to collaborate on events," Marr said, describing the district office’s outreach. She said the Houston office covers 32 counties in Southeast Texas.
Marr said the SBA relies on a network of resource partners that provide direct assistance at no cost. She named SCORE (the host organization of the episode), Small Business Development Centers (SBDC), two women's business centers including the Greater Houston Women's Chamber of Commerce center, and the Veterans Business Outreach Center as examples. "These advisors are available to them again at no charge," Marr said.
Beyond counseling, Marr described partner services such as help writing business plans, connecting with lenders, marketing support and custom market-research reports through SBDC. She directed listeners unsure whether they qualify as a "small business" to the SBA’s size-standards tool at sba.gov/sizestandards and said qualification is determined by NAICS code and then by employees or annual revenue.
Marr urged entrepreneurs to use the Houston District Office calendar (sba.gov/tx/houston) and to sign up for email updates. "That's probably the best way to stay connected because you'll get a weekly e-blast of where we're gonna be, what we're gonna be talking about," she said, and provided an operational contact email: houston@sba.gov.
The Houston office also publishes events designed to link business owners with resource partners and lenders, Marr said. She emphasized that many of the services are available virtually to reach entrepreneurs beyond Houston.
The district office’s counseling programs are intended to guide business planning, operations and market research; listeners seeking help were directed to the online calendar or the district office email for registration and event details.
