Feature

Small Business: Big Impact

By Lorie Briggs | College of Business

When Greg Celestan, an intelligence officer with U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base, set out to create his own business at the end of his 20-year career, he turned to the Small Business Development Center at USF.

It was good strategy, says the retired lieutenant colonel.

Five years later, the knowledge management and defense consulting firm he started, Celestar Corporation, was named to Inc. Magazine's "500 Fastest Growing Companies" roster. Today, the firm's 120 employees serve clients worldwide and it recently hit a new milestone: $20 million in revenue.

"I had this idea of starting a consulting business to help the military and private businesses make sense of the mountains of data that they collect daily," Celestan says. "But I had never set up a company, and my wife and I were a bit hesitant to use our retirement savings — and our daughter's college fund — to pursue it."

Celestar conducts analysis related to terrorist groups. By tracking financial data, imagery from satellites, military reports, financial data, or information from newspapers around the world, Celestar can track where terrorist groups are operating and condense that data into usable information. It also offers a variety of business intelligence work for private companies.

"The first time I visited the SBDC, I was employee number one at my company," says Celestan. "I understood the technical means of what I wanted to do, but I didn't know how to set up the business. SBDC advisers consulted with me one-on-one, helped me set up the structure, and advised me on everything from payroll processes to how to structure the company and obtaining financing," he says.

"Within a year," he adds, "it was up and running."

By year two, he says, the company was profitable.

Like its 1,200 counterparts operated by the U.S. Small Business Administration nationwide, USF's SBDC assists current and prospective business owners, offering no-cost consulting and low-cost training. At USF, the Small Business Development Center is supported by the College of Business, which provides administrative and in-kind support. In addition, the business school provides $300,000 in annual funding.

"Our investment in the SBDC helps foster small business development, spur economic growth, and strengthen companies that often end up hiring our students," says Moez Limayem, dean of the USF College of Business. "Our students benefit, our community benefits, and the small business owners who take advantage of the training programs benefit, too."

USF's financial investment in the SBDC is a smart one, says Eileen Rodriguez, regional director of Tampa Bay's 10-county SBDC.

"For every one dollar that USF invests in us, an additional $7.50 is matched by federal and local organizations," Rodriguez says. "We helped create nearly 1,200 new businesses last year, we helped clients access $85 million in capital, and our clients won nearly $142 million in government contracts."

Such metrics point to the value of the SBDC, she says. "But when companies like Celestar credit our center with much of their success, we're really able to see the return on USF's investment."

Small Business Development Center at USF

5 year return on investment: 2008-2011 impact + 2012 project impact