The 2008 SBDC Client Expo, “The Right Direction,” will be held on May 13, 2008 in the East Wing Rotunda of the State Capitol Building. 25 small businesses from across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will demonstrate how the SBDCs pointed their company on the path to success. Learn more about the clients exhibiting at the Expo by using the map below or read this week's featured client success story. You can also read the official event greeting from Governor Edward Rendell and download the official program and invitation.

Schedule of Events

The Expo begins at 8:00am and runs until 2:00pm. Throughout the day, the 25 exhibiting small businesses at the Expo will be showcasing their products and services. The following businesses will be demonstrating their products and capabilities on the event's main stage:

9:00am Kuchera Defense Systems and NABCO, Inc. – robotics
10:00am Immersimap – 3D mapping software
11:00am Altoona Dance Theatre – student dance performance
12:00pm DiSalvo's Pasta – culinary favorites
1:00pm Verefi Technologies, Inc. – virtual reality surgical simulators
1:30pm Cherryhill Manufacturing – U-SAND machine

Exhibiting Clients

SBDC clients come from all across the state of Pennsylvania. To learn more about the clients exhibiting at this year's Expo click on the markers in the map below.

Featured Expo Client

Each week, this section will feature one exhibiting client who the SBDC helped point in the right direction. This week's featured client, Tea Country, is a minority-owned business that utilized SBDC services to open two brick-and-mortar locations in Philadelphia.


Howard James and his daughter serve up tea and sell tea accessories at two Philadelphia locations.
	Tea Country Philadelphia County www.teacountry.com
Tea Country, a minority-owned business with two locations in Philadelphia, began as an idea in an MBA course at Eastern University in St. Davids. Howard James recognized that the rate of tea consumption in the US outpaced that of coffee and sought to capitalize on the growing national interest in tea. For help turning his research into a viable business, James approached the Temple University Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in 2001. James and his partners had worked the concept of online gourmet tea retail into a draft business plan and needed to take steps to establish their business. Tea Country entered the SBDC’s Business Incubator in early 2002, where the company received assistance with business plan development, market research, and short- and long-term strategies for the company. An SBDC consultant reviewed Tea Country’s website and made recommendations to increase the site’s functionality. By March 2002, the company’s website was fully operational, and the company officially opened for business in April 2002. With the website fully functional, the company shifted its focus to inventory concerns and increased profit margins. The company had been buying Yixing teapots from China through a wholesaler in the US and wanted to determine if they could purchase the teapots at a lower cost. An international consultant at the SBDC worked with the Hong Kong Trade Development Council to find manufacturers that could work directly with Tea Country. The company now imports the teapots directly from a manufacturer in Shanghai, significantly increasing profit margins as a result. By establishing quarterly goals with an SBDC consultant, James continued to expand Tea Country’s online business and began looking into a brick-and-mortar location for his company. The SBDC helped James to identify potential locations for a retail store in Philadelphia. Tea Country opened its first retail location in the East Oak Lane section of North Philadelphia in May 2004. A second location near Temple University’s main campus followed in 2007. The Philadelphia business community has taken notice of Tea Country’s steady growth. Shortly before opening a second location, Tea Country received a $25,000 Established Venture Award and a $10,000 Neighborhood Retailer Award from the Enterprise Center’s Minority Business Plan Competition. Following this recognition, the company received the Minority Enterprise Development Week Retailer of the Year Award at a reception in Philadelphia’s City Hall in October 2007. Tea Country has continued to work with the Temple University SBDC as the company expands. The company is currently working with the SBDC to develop a new marketing plan and pursue additional financing for other retail locations. Download this story

Honorary Chairs

Legislators serving as Honorary Chairs for this year's Expo include:
Honorable Edward Rendell Honorable David G. Argall Honorable Mark B. Cohen Honorable Frank Dermody Honorable Todd A. Eachus Honorable H. William DeWeese Honorable Gene DiGirolamo Honorable Jane Earll Honorable Richard A. Kasunic Honorable Gerald J. LaValle Honorable Sandra Major Honorable Keith R. McCall	Honorable Catherine Baker Knoll Honorable Robert J. Mellow Honorable Dennis M. O'Brien Honorable Michael A. O'Pake Honorable Merle Phillips Honorable Dominic Pileggi Honorable Terry L. Punt Honorable Robert Robbins Honorable Samuel H. Smith Honorable Jerry A. Stern Honorable Dan A. Surra Honorable Connie Williams

To learn more about the SBDC Client Expo read last year's Expo press release. Download a PDF of the 2007 Expo Program to learn about exhibiting clients or check out the photo album for pictures from the event. Videos of some of last year's Expo client are available on the Client Testimonials page.