Suazo center an entrepreneurs oasis

They built it. But even before they built it, people came.

Business and civic leaders toured the new — permanent — home of the Pete Suazo Business Center Friday as part of what was billed as the inaugural "Walk With the Governor — Showing the Way to Success" event. Utah Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr., entourage in tow, walked from 1200 W. 1700 South to the Suazo center, 950 W. 1700 South.

Huntsman spokeswoman Tammy Kikuchi said the walk was "proposed by event organizers as a way to connect the governor with the community" and as a way to highlight the center as a resource for entrepreneurs.

"The center will help entrepreneurs understand the resources that are available to them, to empower them to succeed," Kikuchi said. "There will be information and training, and the center will make the information easy and understandable on things like SBA (U.S. Small Business Administration) loans and mentoring resources. There will be specific consulting support to local business people and minorities and traditionally disadvantaged communities."

The Pete Suazo Business Center, at about 4,000 square feet, includes mentoring/counseling offices, a large conference room for seminars and classes, a computer training room, staff offices and incubator offices. The center will rent that space to new businesses, offering all the services of a small office — copier, fax and secretarial services.

Final touches are still being finished before the center's official opening later this year, perhaps in July, according to executive director Robert Heyn.

In addition to helping prospective and new business owners understand entrepreneurship basics, Heyn said the Pete Suazo Business Center hopes to act as a bridge between minorities and the broader business community.

"There are so many institutions in the community that have resources available to people," Heyn said. "On one hand, it's true that many minorities don't know how to access those resources. On the other hand, many of these organizations — the ones with the resources — don't know how to bring those resources to minorities. We want to be the bridge.

"We don't want to double what's already available in the community. We don't want to reinvent the wheel. But we do want to help the community see that resources are available from the government, private entities and other organizations, and that they have access to those resources. Then we want to help them access them."