Phil Castle, The Business Times

Mandy DeCino knows what it’s like for entrepreneurs starting out and not knowing what they don’t know about launching businesses. That’s because she’s been in that same place.

“You jump,” DeCino says. “You leap before you really know what’s there.”

There’s an alternative, though. One DeCino says she’s committed to promoting as the new director of the Small Business Development Center in Grand Junction. And that’s offering the instruction, counseling and other resources entrepreneurs need to start and grow their ventures. “You don’t have to do it all on your own.”

The Grand Junction SBDC is part of a network of 15 full-time centers and more than 70 part-time satellite offices across Colorado. The centers offer a range of services that include free and low-cost instruction and counseling on all aspects of starting and growing businesses.

In Grand Junction, the SBDC is housed in the Business Incubator Center, which offers such additional resources as low-cost space, a commercial kitchen and revolving loan fund offering access to capital.

Dalida Sassoon Bollig, chief executive officer of the Business Incubator Center, praised DeCino’s selection. “From the moment we met, it was clear that her passion for small businesses, acumen in government programs and dedication to building strong entrepreneurial ecosystems align perfectly with our mission. Mandy’s deep connection to our community and her contagious energy will be invaluable for both the broader SBDC state network and our work at the Business Incubator Center. I have no doubt that under her leadership, we’ll see even more local entrepreneurs thrive and our business community grow stronger,” Bollig says.

Hannah Krieger, director of the SBDC network in Colorado, agreed. “Her passion and expertise will undoubtedly be a tremendous asset to the small businesses in Mesa County. I am confidence she will make a significant, positive impact on the entrepreneurial landscape in the region.”

DeCino says she has a lot to learn about her new position, but she’s excited. “What an opportunity for me, I hope, to make an impact. To help small businesses. To help the whole community.”

She says she expects to draw on her education, her experiences as an entrepreneur and her work with state and federal government regulations.

DeCino grew up on the Front Range, but moved to Grand Junction to attend what was at that time Mesa State College. She earned a bachelor’s degree in human performance and wellness with concentrations in adaptive physical education and corporate wellness.

She returned to the Front Range and worked in corporate wellness, but then came back to the Grand Valley.

After receiving a master’s of business administration degree from Mesa State, she began purchasing homes and renovating them for rental properties. Her interest in real estate led to ownership of a property management business and then a company offering mortgages and mortgage planning. Her mortgage company merged with a California-based operation.

Motivated by what she says was a change in her life and inspired  by her work on a board for HopeWest, she went to work for the Grand Junction-based organization that provides hospice and palliative care and other services in western Colorado.

She worked in a succession of positions with HopeWest and then helped start and oversee the program of all-inclusive care for the elderly. The program provides a range of services, including primary and specialty medical care, prescription medications, medical equipment, physical and occupational therapy, dietary counseling and transportation. The program delivers some services in participants’ homes, but also delivers a range of services from an 80,000-square-foot day center in Grand Junction.

The programs are funded through Medicare federal health insurance for those 65 and older as well as Medicaid, a joint federal and state program offering health coverage for individuals who meet certain functional and financial requirements.

While DeCino expects her experiences working with federal and state regulations will prove useful in her new role with the SBDC, she’ll also draw on her experiences as an entrepreneur to help other entrepreneurs.

The SBDC helps, she says, with free and low-cost consulting and training. The Leading Edge business planning course, for example, offers instruction on all aspects of starting and growing businesses. The next session of the course is scheduled to begin Aug. 28.

DeCino says it’s important for her to listen to what entrepreneurs need and then finding resources to meet those needs.

The Business Incubator Center offers many of those resources, she says. The incubator program and commercial kitchen offer low-cost spaces and shared services. A revolving loan fund offers access to capital. The center also oversees a program offering tax credits for capital projects. The GJmakerspace  offers space, equipment and resources to entrepreneurs, inventors and others for product development, prototyping and manufacturing. The center also operates FWorks, a coworking space located on the second floor of the Fruita Civic Center.

According to the annual report for 2023, the Business Incubator Center assisted with the launch of 43 startups, and 18 companies graduated  from the incubator program. The center supported 446 entrepreneurs. Businesses and entrepreneurs receiving services from the center created 745 jobs and accounted for $5.3 million in capital formation and nearly $17.8 million in client sales.

Rather than leap before they look in starting ventures, DeCino encouraged entrepreneurs to seek help from the SBDC and Business Incubator Center. “If they’ve got a question, give us a call.”

The Grand Junction Small Business Development Center is located in the Business Incubator Center, 2591 Legacy Way. For additional information about programs and services offered there, call
(970) 243-5242 or log on to https://grandjunctionsbdc.org.