The University of Texas at San Antonio Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and the Carlos Alvarez College of Business (C0B) are collaborating on a program to benefit firms and UTSA’s business school students. Known as Financial Analysis by Student Teams (FAST), this project allows area small business owners and students taking Financial Modeling to work together to analyze real-world business challenges.
Now in its third iteration, the collaboration is led by SBDC Assistant Director Ruben S. Lopez and Brian Wolfe, assistant professor in the COB’s Department of Finance. Their program offers small business owners financial analysis to help them make decisions. At the same time, it offers UTSA students the opportunity to get hands-on learning by applying classroom knowledge to a real-world business scenario.
“We are pleased to offer advanced financial analysis to our small business clients and real-world experience to our UTSA students through this program,” said Lopez. “It’s a win-win for area small businesses and our students.”
Wolfe stated that the program realizes one of the educational goals of UTSA—to give students superior experiential learning experiences.
“Experiential learning strengthens the quality of education our UTSA students are receiving,” he said. “In this program, what students learn in the classroom is directly applied to San Antonio-area small businesses to help the business succeed. It turn, it makes our students’ learning experience more robust and successful.”
Using advanced financial analysis techniques that the students learn early in the semester, teams of three to four students each will work with an SBDC business advisor and their small business client. They will analyze financial statements, sales data and/or online traffic, such as clicks and purchases, to help the client make a financial decision.
The SBDC is one of several centers hosted by the UTSA Institute for Economic Development, which
is dedicated to creating jobs, growing businesses and fostering economic development. Its many centers and programs provide professional business advising, technical training, research, market analysis and strategic planning for entrepreneurs, business owners and community leaders. The Institute seeks ways for UTSA to grow and prosper along with the San Antonio community.
Businesses that would be a good match for participating in the SBDC/COB program:
- Have accurate income statements from the past two years and a current balance sheet
- Have historical sales data and/or e-commerce data from a point of sales system (POS) or a website
- Are an existing SBDC client or willing to become a client at no cost
- Are available to meet via video conference with their assigned business advisor and UTSA student team three to five times during the academic semester.
If you are interested in participating in this program, contact Ruben Lopez at ruben.lopez@utsa.edu or Brian Wolfe at brian.wolfe@utsa.edu.
For more information about the Institute of Economic Development, visit https://iedtexas.org/.
