Small Business Center – SBC

Small Business Center has offered research-based entrepreneurship development and training services for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) since 1980. Customers benefit – growth, success and prosperity of SMEs, development of the staff’ leadership- and management skills – is the honor factors for us.

The SBC is an active RDI unit and offers following services for the customers: development entrepreneurship skills, entrepreneurship education and -training, development services and applied research for SMEs. We are actively working also with international entrepreneurship research- and development networks.

The SBC was founded in Mikkeli in year 1980, and established offices in Helsinki (1997), in St. Petersburg (1993) and in Tallinn (2004). The SBC was the unit of the Aalto University before 1.5.2016 and now it is the unit of the Xamk’ RDI department.

The Small Business Center’s (SBC) focus is on entrepreneurship and SMEs development on national- and international levels:

• Entrepreneurship education development
• Supporting start-ups and innovations/ New business creation / SMEs development and growth
• Entrepreneurship research and development projects.

Our customers include individuals, SMEs and public organizations, especially those interested in entrepreneurship and business development.

Our international business development is focused especially on Russia and the Baltic Sea Region / other EU countries, China and Egypt.

SBC’s services:

• Development- and training programs for the potential entrepreneurs and start-ups.
• Training- and business development services for SMEs incl. topics: sales, accounting, customer relationship management, finance, taxation, recruiting, management, leadership, project management, internationalization and growth.
• Entrepreneurship education programs for teachers and innovators incl. entrepreneurship pedagogy and new forms of entrepreneurship.
• New business- and innovation services and competence development programs for both public and private sector.

Increasing international and global co-operation is one of the central aims in the EU. This aim supported by a variety of EU financing programs, such as Horizon 2020, Central Baltic- and Baltic Sea Region Interreg, ENPI, ENI CBC, Erasmus+ etc.

The SBC’s own strategy emphasizes on the promotion of the entrepreneurship and innovations, co-operation between start-ups, SMEs and different actors supporting entrepreneurship in the Baltic Sea Region/EU and Russia.

The SBC has actively participated in the Central Baltic- and Baltic Sea Region –Interreg projects, ENPI co-operation with North-Western Russia and in the numerous Leonardo da Vinci- and Erasmus projects for the developing entrepreneurship education.

The international EU projects have enabled the creation of the strong, close and long-term co-operation networks between the SBC and the university units and development organizations supporting entrepreneurship in the Baltic Sea Region / EU and outside EU.

International projects offer various networking opportunities for the SBCs and its customers with organizations in the EU and the partnership countries.

The SBC has participated in hundreds of national and international EU projects that are contextually related to the development and research of entrepreneurship and SME business development.

We are specialized in entrepreneurship education research, as well as entrepreneurship education, training and development services.

Furthermore, we offer tailored development solutions encompassing the entire business life cycle of SMEs and entrepreneurship.

Our research mission is to support regional, national and international entrepreneurship activities. Creative solutions to develop SMEs and creating new enterprises are the cornerstone of our services. The SBC has participated in EU research and development projects on a regular basis for nearly three decades.

Contacts: Anne Gustafsson-Pesonen, +358 40 834 4217, anne.gustafsson-pesonen@xamk.fi