Zions Bank this week will launch its Business Resource Center, a free service for business owners and prospective entrepreneurs who are working on a business plan, trying to get an idea off the ground or growing to the next level.

The center, 310 S. Main, features a library — including books and periodicals on everything from how to write a sales plan to effective management and marketing techniques — as well as three computer terminals with access to the Internet and loaded with business planning and other software. It also has access to staff who can help answer or direct questions to local experts.

"We've found that business owners want a source of information, someplace they can go to get the information they need and not be intimidated by walking into a huge facility — because it can be overwhelming," said center director Cecilia Mitchell.

A grand opening event will be held from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Friday in the building's mezzanine.

In the past, Zions partnered with the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) in operating Salt Lake's Business Information Center. The SBA stepped away from BIC in early 2005.

"It was a decision to try to better consolidate resources and leverage more off of our private partners, and really to try to better create some economies of scale and reduce duplication," said Stan Nakano, the SBA's Utah District director. "We'll still have SCORE, which will be an integral part of the Zions Business Resource Center, and it's an SBA-funded partner."

Nakano said the SBA supports the business center model and believes Zions "will run an outstanding center."

Zions, utilizing the old BIC location, updated and upgraded the furnishings, library and computer terminals — the first steps in what Mitchell said is a broader plan to reach new, prospective and growing businesses statewide.

"We don't want to just target new businesses, but existing businesses as well, that need help learning how to better manage their business," she said. "There are a lot of business owners that have been in business for three to five years and things are OK — good but not great. They're making their payments and paying their bills and they're paying their employees. But they want to go to that next level and they don't really know how to get there. We want them to come in and sit and talk about ways that they can grow and expand."

Zions has been the SBA's top lender in Utah for the past 12 years. In fiscal year 2005, Zions reported that it approved 699 SBA 7(a) loans, totaling more than $60 million, and representing 34 percent of the 2,012 SBA-backed loans approved in the state during the year.