Small Business

In St. Joseph, there are many ways to help small businesses. In addition to the programming and services offered with a Chamber membership, other entities have other avenues to provide small business support.

The SBDC is an advisory service that transforms small business owners into successful entrepreneurs by building their business skills acumen. SBDC is for new or veteran small business owners. The St. Joseph office can help residents in the following counties: Andrew, Buchanan, Clinton, DeKalb, Holt, Nodaway, Worth, Gentry and Atchison counties.

The St. Joseph SBDC is in a transition phase. Contact info will be available in 2026. For statewide information, click here.

SBDC covers many different aspects of business development. Some of those fields include:

• Strategic Planning
• Marketing Strategies
• Financial Management
• Finding Financing
• Business Management and Improved Efficiency
• Business Start-Up

The Launch Pad is a new development in downtown St. Joseph. It’s more than a coworking space. It’s a full ecosystem built to support entrepreneurs with

• Flexible coworking + private offices
• High-speed internet + meeting rooms
• Shared-use tech
• Business coaching
• Networking nights, pitch events and mentorship

Learn more here.

SizeUp

Evergy has partnered with SizeUp – an online business intelligence company – to provide a free web-based data tool for small businesses located in the Evergy service area.

The SizeUp tool provides a variety of business intelligence including:

• Local business owners can research information about their business’ performance, gather information to identify potential customers and target marketing. This will position them to be better prepared to emerge as the economy reopens.
• Aspiring entrepreneurs can perform analysis about the viability of the business they would like to open. They can test whether their assumptions are realistic and can also gather data to create an informed business plan with market research.
• Laid off workers can explore information about industries they may want to start a business and access data about businesses and consumers in the area.

Access SizeUp through Evergy’s Economic Development website. For tutorials and app, see this site.

MOBUCKS$

The Missouri State Treasurer’s Office invests in Missouri small business, agriculture and governmental entities. Through the program, the office partners with qualified-lending institutions to provide low-interest loans to help grow and expand economic opportunity across Missouri. By reducing the interest rate on certain loans, the program helps better serve Missouri-based companies. To learn more, see this website.