The Tennessee Small Business Development Center has relocated to 2109 W. Market St. in order to better serve ETSU and the community.
Bob Justice, director of the Tennessee Small Business Development Center, said having a building off-campus has many benefits.
“We have gained a significant increase in accessibility,” Justice said. “About 95 percent of our clients are private sectors from the community so it’s easier on them.”
Justice said the office located in the old Marine Corps Reserve Center is easy to find and has ample parking. “It’s not like trying to find Sam Wilson on campus, then trying to find a parking space.”
Space is another asset the new building has, Justice said. “Space allows us to create a business resource center. We have a small non-lending library, with how-to books and information on marketing plans and strategies.”
Justice said public awareness of the program has greatly increased as well. “We are here to get names out. Even if we are one more bullet point on a resume, those bullet points help.”
The center has been on campus since 1983 and moved to their new location on Aug. 24. The building is on a 28-acre piece of property owned by the federal government. Dr. Mike Woodruff wrote a grant to the U.S. Department of Education to acquire the land for educational purposes.
Justice said the center is a component of ETSU that holds an innovation lab for those interested in the elements of small businesses.
“The center takes the biotech research out of the College of Medicine and the knowledge-tech research out of the College of Applied Science and Technology. It assists people with ideas to create commercialized products,” Justice said.
The ultimate goal is to create new businesses and new jobs for the region.
The center helps faculty, graduate students and people from the private sectors who have an idea for a product or small business. It provides office space, computer access and research materials to begin implementing the idea. “We want to hopefully create a business that will employ more ETSU graduates.”
We want to solve the problem of ‘brain-drain’ which happens to people with a lot of educational skills when they have no place in the region to work to apply those skills,” Justice said.
Last year, the center assisted approximately 50 new businesses in helping them get their start, employed 125 people with those businesses, and had a hand in helping clients generate about $12 million.
“We also assisted people in not starting a small business,” Justice said. “Not everybody is cut out to be a business owner and we try to identify that up front. We want to help them with their weaknesses, encourage them to take more classes or get more hands-on experience.”
Justice stressed that the new building would not have been as successful without the labor of ETSU’s Physical Plant. “They really helped with getting the center up and running and getting the building opened on time. They even came in on a Saturday. They are a great group of people.”

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