The Louisiana Small Business Development Center is the state’s largest resource for entrepreneurs, funded at the federal and state levels, offering specialized training and no-cost, confidential business consulting.
Nationally accredited and operating through nine regional centers, including McNeese State University’s Henning SEED Center, in all 64 parishes, the LSBDC network supports emerging and established businesses with financial planning, loan preparation and market analysis.
Despite its huge footprint, it remains a hidden gem.
“This organization has been in Louisiana for 40 years and almost no one knows we exist,” Dean Day, business consultant for the LSBDC in McNeese, said with a laugh. “We’re the people you want to come see because our services are free of charge. We help from A to Z and everything in between.”
The center’s core offerings include business plan development, growth strategies, market research, financial assistance, and targeted sales and marketing techniques.
“We help them fill out their records, put together business plans and draw up financial projections so they can take them to lenders and get loans,” Day said. “We help them with marketing plans and follow up a year or two later to make sure they’re really successful.”
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That long-term support is vital because the reality of starting a business can be unforgiving.
“Here’s a sad statistic: Of 100 businesses starting today, 23 of them will close by the eighth month,” Day said. “To begin with, an entrepreneur’s track record is pretty tough. When people come to see us, we help improve those odds quite a bit.”
With full taxpayer support, the center’s confidential, one-on-one counseling and training events offer contemporary solutions designed specifically for the southwest Louisiana market, encompassing Allen, Beauregard, Jefferson Davis, Cameron and Calcasieu parishes.
“To give you an idea of what we have done so far this year, I have personally helped 25 people start a business in and around this five-parish area,” Day said.
Seeing those businesses go from idea to reality is exactly why we do this, he said.
“I helped those 25 people secure $7.5 million in bank loans, which created 57 new jobs in the area and helped retain 140 more. What we do brings a direct economic impact to this region.”
Day said he loves telling people to come see how their tax dollars work.
“What we do is give hope to business owners, to people who have been working for someone else for years, sitting on the sidelines, wanting to be their own boss,” Day said. “That’s what we’re here for. If money is what’s stopping you from becoming an entrepreneur, get it out of your head. There’s a lot of money out there; you just have to know the right source to get it.”
Day noted that a large portion of people seeking help lately are interested in opening solo operations, such as lawn care services, painting businesses and construction contracts.
“We can give them access to capital very quickly,” he said. “The reason I mention this is because there are a lot of people who work in the sector here who have to work for larger companies but want to go out on their own. They’re either too afraid or they don’t know how to access capital. That’s what we do: we take them by the hand, create a business plan and literally go to the lenders and help them secure their financing.”
Day is currently working with five clients and hopes to raise between $6 million and $10 million in capital to help them launch their businesses. For Day, it all comes down to showing community members exactly how their taxes are being used.
Day said clients who work in the medical field are also seeing great success using the center’s offerings.
“People are sick and tired of working for big hospitals or big medical groups,” he said. “For example, speech therapists and physical therapists are breaking out of those conglomerates and starting their own businesses. I’m working with one right now. When we show them the path to success, they say, ‘Well, that’s not very difficult. Why was I afraid of that?’ It’s because they have these thoughts of “that’s only for the rich.” We can create a path of success for them. “It is a rewarding feeling.”
Day said, on average, the center serves about 500 people a year. Already in 2026, he himself served 280 clients.
“We are a busy center. What’s strange is that we are the second smallest center in the state of Louisiana, but we produce the most results. The reason for this is that we are actively here in the public educating people and telling them what we do. We are spreading the word.”