The Wharton Small Business Development Center

Interested in starting a business in Philadelphia?

The Wharton Small Business Development Center (WSBDC) provides free consulting services to entrepreneurs as well as educational workshops for which we charge a nominal fee. The Wharton SBDC is strongly committed to helping small businesses in the Philadelphia area. (For our purposes, a small business is defined as having less than $10,000,000 in revenue per year and fewer than 100 employees). While our workshops are open to all, our consulting services are generally limited to for-profit ventures. The Wharton SBDC is located at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and has been a driving force in the growth of over 20,000 small businesses in just the past decade.

SBDC services have helped small firms throughout the Commonwealth raise more than $1 billion in start-up and expansion capital, start thousands of new companies, and sell billions of dollars worth of Pennsylvania products and services throughout the world. As a result, SBDC clients have created tens of thousands of new jobs and generated more than $325,000,000 in new state and federal tax revenue.

Staff Expertise

All services are provided by our staff of highly qualified consultants. In addition to practical experience in operating small businesses themselves, our staff have more than 150 years of business experience and hold degrees in Business, Economics and Engineering. The Wharton SBDC also taps the expertise of industry experts, successful entrepreneurs, and other business professionals to deliver its educational programs.

Services Summary

Each year, the Wharton Small Business Development Center provides the following services:

- Provides over 16,000 hours of consulting to 600 entrepreneurs and small businesses
- Offers over 70 educational programs attended by more than 1,500 Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners
- Answers over 10,000 requests for information and assistance
- Helps clients obtain over $10,000,000 in start-up and expansion capital

Learn more at The Wharton Small Business Development Center