Minister for Commerce, Planning and Infrastructure, Hon. Joseph (Joey) Hew opened a two day workshop on the setting up of a Small Business Development Centre (SBDC) at The Westin Grand Cayman last Wednesday morning, 4 October 2017.

A prominent SBDC facilitator from Texas, USA, Mr. Al Salgado, is the keynote speaker and presenter.

The stakeholders’ workshop highlights what an SBDC is and how it can work for the Cayman Islands to promote the welfare and progress of small and micro-businesses as well as encourage their growth by more new entrepreneurs in the islands.

About Al Salgado

Al Salgado, Executive Director
South-West Texas Border Small Business Development Center
The University of Texas at San Antonio
Al Salgado is the Regional Director for the South-West Texas Border Small Business
Development Center Network, a regional network of twelve (12) SBDC Service Centers thatserve a 79-county area along the Texas-Mexico Border. America’s Small Business DevelopmentCenter Network is the most comprehensive small business assistance network in the UnitedStates and its territories, and is funded in part through apartnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration. The South-West Texas Border SBDC Network is a program of UTSA’s Institutefor Economic Development (IED).

Since 1979, the SBDC and the IED have been dedicated to creating jobs, growing businessesand fostering economic and community development. The IED houses a variety of programs that provide professional business advising, technical training, research, market analysis and strategic
planning services for entrepreneurs, business owners and community leaders.

Mr. Salgado leads a team of 120 professionals and support staff that serve the Texas-Mexico
border area as well as regional, national and international initiatives working in collaboration
with federal, state and local government agencies, business sector partners and clients. The
SBDC along with the IED are principal drivers of UTSA’s community engagement mission. The
Institute’s programs offer service-learning opportunities for UTSA students and regularly draw
on faculty expertise for special projects.

Since joining UTSA, Mr. Salgado has guided efforts of economic development at UTSA,
achieving constant growth and tangible results. In 2014, his staff served more than 26,500
businesses, creating over 6,108 jobs and 625 new businesses helping small businesses acquire
$314M in capital and export and sales of $930M. The South-West Texas Border SBDC Network
consistently ranks nationally in the top 5 for SBDC key performance indicators.

Mr. Salgado has led efforts to promote the Small Business Network of the Americas, a new
network of Small Business Development Centers based in universities, in 20 Western
Hemisphere nations to-date. Currently there are 120 Centers in Mexico, 40 SBDCs in Central
America, 8 SBDCs in the Caribbean, 60 SBDC underdevelopment in Chile, 3 SBDCs in
Colombia, and soon in Argentina and Paraguay. Foreign and domestic SBDCs will be linked by
the web-platform SBDCGLOBAL.COM to facilitate international trade between Latin American
countries and the U.S.

Mr. Salgado earned a BBA degree at Eastern New Mexico University and completed an MBA at
Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio. Mr. Salgado belongs to numerous professional
and trade organizations and is most proud of having worked with Quality Texas Foundation as a
Malcolm Baldrige examiner. He was elected by his peers to serve on the America’s SBDC
Network Board of Directors as a Member for 8 years and in a leadership role as Chairman for 2
years.