The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), host of one of the most successful SBDC programs in the nation, has been the leading institution in promoting and expanding the Small Business Development Center model throughout Latin American, the Caribbean and North Africa.

Since 2003 and with the support of various US government and regional agencies, such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Higher Education for Development (HED), the Organization of American States (OAS), the United States Department of States, the US Permanent Mission to the OAS, and CENPROMYPE, UTSA has been advising foreign government on how to adapt, implement and establish SBDC networks in their respective countries.

This includes UTSA providing expert guidance for each country on proper SME policy development, hands-on training to transfer the SBDC model, training future SBDC professionals, hosting observational viists to San Antonio, Texas, developing accreditation standards, creating an association of SBDCs and conducting in-country SBDC operational improvement visits.

UTSA will continue to be instrumental in the expansion, internationalization and linkage of the SBDCs by assisting them in merging efforts with their national export assistance agencies and by facilitating the access to SBDCGlobal.com, which will help SBDC clients open new export markets, increase competitiveness and grow sales in the Americas.