June is here and that means that the tourists are out and about as well! Here in Anchorage the downtown area has been packed with folks dressed for an Antarctic expedition wandering around looking vaguely confused at the lack of penguins. When you encounter these folks, the best thing to do is point them to the nearest local business and encourage them to spend as much money as they can.
At the Alaska SBDC we’ve been busy spending our summer connecting businesses to new funding through our SSBCI programs, getting more local businesses in the BuyAlaska business directory, launching new AI tools and hosting a ton of workshops! If you want to get a more detailed look at what we do around here, you should check out our 2024 annual report! We did some pretty impressive stuff, if I do say so myself!
Which was good, because we recently got a visit from the SBA Pacific NW Regional Administrator Apollo Fuhriman, and were able to tell him all about it. He was in town for the National 8(a) Association Alaska Regional Conference and stopped by the Alaska SBDC office to get an update on Alaska’s small businesses and the barriers they face. We made sure he got a copy of our recent Alaska Small Business Survey so he could hear directly from businesses like yours. If you haven’t looked that over yet, check it out here!
Whatever your business is doing this summer, make sure you reach out to your SBDC business advisor. Not only are they a fantastic resource themselves, but they can connect you with the other amazing programs we operate to support small businesses in Alaska. Most importantly, don’t forget to take some time off to catch a few salmon, hike a few trails and engage in the time-honored Alaskan tradition of telling tourists tall tales of life in the Last Frontier.
