UT-Tyler Longview Small Business Development Center sees success in Harrison County market

The Small Business Development Center serving Harrison and surrounding counties recently earned several statewide awards, including Small Business Development Center of the Year and Family-Owned Business of the Year going to Harrison County’s Bear Creek Smokehouse.

The UT-Tyler Longview Small Business Development Center covers six counties — Harrison, Gregg, Panola, Upshur, Rusk and Marion – and offers free consulting services to help entrepreneurs and business owners.

“We’ve had some great things happen in the last year,” said Day Shelmire, director of the UT Tyler-Longview SBDC.

During an SBDC awards event in Dallas for the 2024-25 fiscal year, the local organization won 2024 SBDC of the year. In addition to the Bear Creek Smokehouse honor, Kilgore-based Arpco Valves & Controls won 2025 SBA Woman-owned Business of the Year, and local SBDC senior business advisor Virgel Conner was the 2025 SBDC State Star Award winner.

Shelmire said Conner was one of about 60 business advisors to earn that status out of about 5,000 across the country.

“So we’ve got one of the best in the country right here serving Harrison County,” he said.

Shelmire said it was definitely a remarkable feat having two clients — Bear Creek Smokehouse and Arpco— receive the state honors.

“This is unprecedented. We nominated two businesses from our region … as Women Owned Business of the Year and Family Owned Business, and we got two winners,” he said. “I don’t think this has ever happened for any SBDC. They are fantastic businesses.”

The regional SBDC has offices in Marshall, Longview, Jefferson and Henderson. The Marshall office is on the second floor of the Synergy building in downtown. It is manned by business advisor Brandy Flanagan on Tuesday and Thursday.

“We’re lucky to have her,” Shelmire said, adding she’s the first female mayor in Gladewater and one of the best business advisors in the state.

“Brandy … meets with entrepreneurs and small business owners to help them start a business, grow a business, fix a business — whatever it is,” Shelmire said.

He said the office is staffed by former entrepreneurs, who have all been successful in their fields. Services provided include financial projects and pro formas, business plan development, loan package development, bookkeeping support, marketing strategies and government procurement and contracting.

Shelmire said all SBDCs are hosted and operated by local colleges and universities. The UT Tyler-Longview SBDC is part of a national network of SBDCs and is funded by a grant from the Small Business Administration. The state provides additional matching funding as well as the organization’s sponsored college.

“Since UT-Tyler became the host of this program, since 2019 we’ve counseled almost 1,400 clients. We’ve helped almost 200 businesses get started. We provided almost 12,000 counseling hours to our businesses in our six counties,” Shelmire said. “And probably the most important is we’ve helped our businesses get almost $70 million in bank loans and equity capital. So we have a lot of capabilities, and it can be really helpful to small businesses.”

Some of the SBDC’s clients in Marshall include the Ginocchio restaurant, Bread of Heaven restaurant, The Ceramic Egg Shop nd Rueggenbach Brewing Co.

“One of my favorites here is The Ceramic Egg. That’s a great little small business that makes ceramic eggs here in Marshall,” Shelmire said. “So if you go into a feed store, and you see those ceramic eggs that they use, chances are they came right out of the little manufacturing plant right here at Marshall.

“We see a lot of businesses, a lot of different industries, so we can pretty much do it all,” he said.

One of his favorite success stories is Rueggenbach Brewing Co. He recalled how the SBDC helped owner Texas Ruegg realize his dreams.

“Just to give you an example of how we operate, I was at a Rotary meeting, and happened to sit right next to Texas, and he was working for LeTourneau (University) at the time. I handed him my card, and he said: ‘You know, I always wanted to start a brew pub.’ And I said: “When you do, give us a call.’ And about six weeks later, he did. And we literally helped him form his LLC. We helped him with his business plan,” Shelmire said. “We helped him put a lender package together, which included three years of projections, a personal financial statement — everything an entrepreneur would need to go to a lender.”

The organization also helped him secure funding from MEDCO for an abatement of the historical former fire facility that now houses the brewery.

“MEDCO put in the money for the abatement so that the project can move forward, and they actually put together a program specifically for abatement in a 10-block area here in downtown, because we got them involved,” Shelmire said. “So we have a lot of connections in our counties. We can help deals move forward.”

Shelmire thanked Harrison commissioners for the opportunity to share success stories and welcomed aspiring entrepreneurs to check out their services.

“An economic impact study that was done by the Hibbs Institute at UT Tyler shows that over the last five years, our office has produced almost $50 million in economic impact in our six counties. So what we can do for Harrison County and the businesses here is substantial, and we want to do more,” he said.