One of the highest quality and least known resources for small businesses in the state of South Carolina is the Small Business Development Center. SBDC offices offer business counseling, research resources, classes, and loan application assistance.  

Join us in February as the State Director comes to us from Columbia to discuss the programs available as well as those they will soon be launching. (They've got some programs in the works that are especially useful for tech businesses.) She will show you how your tech business can take advantage of their offices across the state.

How the State SBDC Helps Build Tech Businesses in South Carolina

 a GSATC Learning Lunch

with Guest Presenter: Michele Abraham, State Director of the South Carolina Small Business Development Centers at the University of South Carolina

 About our Speaker:

Michele Abraham has served as the State Director for the South Carolina Small Business Development Centers (SC SBDC) since late January 2010, where she manages a statewide network of expert advisors and professional staff who provide business consultng and training to South Carolina's entrepreneurs and small businesses.

From 2006 - 2009, Michele worked for the Ohio Department of Development (ODOD) and served as the State Director of the Ohio SBDC, one of the five largest SBDCs in the nation.  During her tenure there, the Ohio SBDC was recognized nationally by the U.S. Small Business Administration as one of the top programs in the country and honored with a visit from the national Advisory Board.

Michele also served the Ohio ODOD as Chief of Strategic Management, where she developed and implemented a department-wide strategic management process to ensure accountability to the agency and their stakeholders. Prior to her time at ODOD, Michele worked in the private sector, successfully progressing through positions with increasing responsibility in sales management, business development, marketing and senior management.  She has over 20 years of experience in advanced materials and products for aerospace/aircraft, as well as automotive, sporting goods and other industrial market segments.  Her successes include building a mature, stagnant business (Owens Corning) from $6 million to over $23 million in annual sales; and guiding a start-up business (Atlantic Research) to $11 million in five years through a series of strategic partnerships, joint ventures and acquisitions.  Michele also has owned and operated two successful businesses.

Born in Athens, Ohio to a military family, Michele moved throughout the United States during her childhood.  Abraham is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Bowling Green State University where she majored in communications, journalism and PR.

Ms. Abraham currently resides in Blythewood, S.C.