Small Business Development Shines In Truckee

Small Business Development Center is Part of BlueTechValley

By Jessica Theisman, Associate Editor

The BlueTechValley Initiative was established in Fresno in 2011. It strategically leverages the region’s resources and assets to create a fertile environment for entrepreneurs to turn vision into real world solutions. The initiative has spread through an innovation cluster: the 7 hubs collectively serving 39 counties covering two-thirds of California’s geographic areas.

One of those areas is the Sierra Small Business Development Center in Truckee, CA. California Ag Today met with Chelsea Walterscheid, a program manager for the Sierra Business Council, which runs the Small Business Development Center, to talk about the center.

Walterscheid said that they are looking for people with ideas, whether they have products or just a thought.

“They might want to come in and get some help as far as pitching their ideas. And so we’re here to help in a number of ways, and to reach out to people who might have some technologies,” she said.

There are ideas, of course, in the ag water and energy fields.

Kristin York is the vice president of business innovation at the Sierra Business Council. She appreciates Fresno State’s efforts in putting together the Blue TechValley Innovation Cluster.

“The resources and the support that they offer, especially for a rural region of the state, because rural regions are often overlooked, and I feel like we have a true partnership with Fresno State,” she said.