For Troy University students who have worked with the Alabama Small Business Development Center at Troy University, the experience has meant more than an internship, a graduate assistantship or a line on a résumé. 

It has offered a front-row seat to the University’s impact in the community.

Through the SBDC, students have worked alongside professional advisors and project contractors to support small business owners, grant-funded community programs and outreach efforts across the region. The work gives students hands-on experience while helping them see how their University’s mission reaches beyond the classroom.

“At the SBDC, students don’t just learn about business — they see their University show up for neighbors,” said Juliana Bolivar, Center Director and Lead Business Advisor. “That connection builds pride. When a student’s work helps a small business owner move forward, they understand that their education is connected to something bigger than themselves.”

The center provides no-cost advising and training to small business owners and entrepreneurs in areas such as business planning, market research, licensing and compliance, marketing, access to capital and growth strategy. Students support that work through research, program coordination, administrative operations, event support and community management.

That student pipeline has taken different forms over the years. Caitlyn Blackmon served as an SBDC advisor while a student and is now an entrepreneur herself. Will Pouncey, a TROY graduate and former SBDC advisor, now leads Optics Consulting. Morgan Rainey, a graduate assistant, supported an Alabama Department of Transportation small-business initiative, assisting with coordination, outreach and data tracking.

The SBDC also trained five students through a USDA-supported project, preparing them to understand the basics of business advising, intake, research and client support. The model was later presented at the national America’s SBDC Conference, where TROY’s team received strong feedback from centers across the country on what Bolivar describes as the center’s “recipe” for leveraging student talent.

“It is an equation that works well for everyone involved,” Bolivar said. “Students bring energy, curiosity and work ethic. The SBDC gives them structure, supervision and real-world projects. The community benefits because we can expand our capacity and serve more people well.”

The model has continued through the Department of Human Resources’ Start Your Business program, a community-focused entrepreneurship initiative supported by the SBDC. Kiana Mims provided program support for the project, coordinating workshops, following up with participants and building case-management skills that translate to public service and community work.

Mims, who supported the SBDC’s administrative operations for a year, has since moved into a new position where she is using the skills and experience she developed through her work with the center. Derrick Nobles, an Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award recipient — one of TROY’s highest honors recognizing character and service — also supported the center by assisting with internal paperwork and practicing his accounting skills.

Following the Sorrell College of Business career fair, the SBDC welcomed Marta Gateva Nikolova, an international graduate student in the Sorrell College of Business, as Community Manager for the DHR Start Your Business program. In addition to supporting communication with program participants and graduates, Nikolova is helping with event organization for the SBDC.

Contractor Katherine Zobre, who supports components of the DHR and ALDOT projects, said TROY students have become an important part of the work.

“After collaborating with them through the SBDC, I love hiring TROY students on my consulting projects — they’re prepared, mission-driven and deliver,” Zobre said. “They see the human side of entrepreneurship and bring that care to the work.”

For Bolivar, the value of the model is not only in the work students complete, but in what they take with them.

“Every student who comes through here leaves more prepared than when they arrived,” Bolivar said. “They gain professional skills, but they also gain pride in their University. They see that TROY is not just educating students — it is helping families, entrepreneurs and communities move forward.”

The center plans to continue building student roles around community need, including internships, program support and event organization opportunities. Bolivar said she hopes the model will continue to attract students who want meaningful experience and faculty who see the SBDC as a place where students can apply what they are learning in real time.

“We give them real clients, real deadlines and real outcomes,” Bolivar said. “That is hard to replicate in a classroom alone, and it is exactly the kind of experience that helps students understand the difference they can make.”

For more information about student opportunities or advising services, contact the Alabama SBDC at Troy University at 334-808-6793 or jbolivar@troy.edu.