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Small business office opens in Carrizo Springs

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Office opens in Texas’ booming Eagle Ford Shale area; center is a collaborative effort among UTSA, South-West Texas Border SBDC Network, and local SBDC offices

To reinforce business development efforts through The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) Institute for Economic Development’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and to help communities become sustainable during the oil and gas play, UTSA has opened a SBDC Information Center in Carrizo Springs.

The center is located within the Middle Rio Grande Development Workforce Solutions offices at 307 W. Nopal St., Carrizo Springs, Texas 78834.

The Eagle Ford Shale, believed to be one of the most significant oil and gas discoveries in the country, now provides more than 12,000 workers with full-time jobs. Communities are welcoming the growth that the activity brings but are having challenges associated with such a dramatic economic upturn.

“The Eagle Ford Shale oil and gas play will bring economic prosperity to the region and for the state,” said Gil Gonzalez, director of the UTSA Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Rural Business Program.

Resources available at the SBDC Information Center will include consulting for small businesses, workshops for communities and a Bid2Biz Pipeline to connect oil and gas companies to local small businesses from the area.

"All of us working in the Rural Business Program are looking forward to the opening of our office in Carrizo Springs and the opportunity to enhance local business development within the Eagle Ford Shale area," said Marc Roy, project manager for the SBDC Rural Business Program.

The Rural Business Program in collaboration with the Center for Community and Business Research (CCBR) at the UTSA Institute for Economic Development released a Workforce Analysis in the Eagle Ford Shale in May 2011 which provided an analysis of the impact that the oil and gas activity potentially has in the region.

In addition, the Rural Business Program is currently conducting a Strategic Analysis of the Middle Rio Grande Region with the UTSA College of Architecture that will focus on sustainable choices for the growing demand of housing in the Eagle Ford Shale region. The housing study is expected in February 2012.

By 2020, the estimated economic impact from activity in the Eagle Ford Shale is expected to reach more than $10.1 billion with a projected 31,705 new jobs in the six-county area in which the shale is concentrated.

“Our goal is to integrate business, community, and workforce development services under one roof to create the synergy for sustainable development for the region,” Gonzalez said.

For more information please contact the UTSA Rural Business Program at 210.458.2046 or by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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The Institute for Economic Development is partially funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration. The support given by the SBA through such funding does not constitute an expressed or implied endorsement of any of the co-sponsors' or participants' opinions, findings, conclusions, recommendations, products, or services.

All SBDC programs are nondiscriminatory and open to the public. Reasonable arrangements for persons with disabilities will be made, if requested at least two weeks in advance.