2023 Arkansas Small Business Development Center Excellence and Innovation Center Award
Arkansas SBTDC at University of Arkansas at Monticello
Aimee Weaver, Center Director
The University of Arkansas at Monticello ASBTDC is a regional office of the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center's statewide network. The UAM ASBTDC provides confidential, individual consulting specifically tailored to each client’s business venture. Primary areas of assistance include business planning, financial analysis, market research, financing proposals, marketing, business purchases, growth and expansion, management, and profitability. The center also conducts outreach to generate client referrals by engaging with lenders, chambers, mayors, and other economic development entities and speaks at events to create awareness about ASBTDC services. ASBTDC training events equip small business owners, employees and prospective entrepreneurs with the skills and knowledge necessary to excel in today’s business environment.
Great Rivers Technical Institute, a trade school with campuses in McGehee and Dumas in southeast Arkansas, joined the ASBTDC network in 2001. In 2003, Great Rivers Technical Institute merged with the University of Arkansas at Monticello, and the ASBTDC moved to the main UAM campus in Monticello in 2011.
The UAM ASBTDC Regional Office reports to the Dean of the School of Business and is well supported by the institution. UAM serves as the regional hub for education in southeast Arkansas, and the ASBTDC office provides vital support to entrepreneurs and small businesses in this rural area of the state known as the Delta.
The UAM ASBTDC office is a one-person office serving Ashley, Bradley, Chicot, Cleveland, Desha, Drew, and Lincoln counties. Center Director Aimee Weaver is supported by the lead center with event coordination and marketing, market research, client intake, and additional consulting expertise from the network as appropriate to meet client needs.
Aimee Weaver became director of the ASBTDC at the University of Arkansas at Monticello in October 2018. She has extensive small business and banking experience.
Aimee previously owned a restaurant, a retail business, and a consulting firm focusing on restaurant and hospitality businesses. She also served as a field consultant for a restaurant franchise development group in Arkansas. Most recently she was a business banking specialist for US Bank. Weaver has a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Weaver's experience and strong ties to the local area make her uniquely qualified to support the start and growth of small businesses in the region.