The University of Missouri - Kansas City's Small Business Development Center is part of a nationwide network of SBDC programs and is affiliated with and supported by UMKC's Bloch School of Business and Public Administration. Centers are located on college and university campuses that host and support the program. We are one of several service centers that comprise the Missouri SBDC.

Local centers were established to provide small businesses with analysis, consultation, and training, and to help them become part of Missouri's thriving business sector.

The UMKC SBDC provides individual business counseling and seminar training for potential and existing small businesses in the Kansas City area. We are located at 4747 Troost in midtown Kansas City. We also have a satellite center north of the river in the Clay County Courthouse Annex, 1901 NE 48th Street.

The center's team is comprised of experienced professionals with expertise in the areas of: finance, marketing, international trade, retail, accounting, strategic planning and more.

Our Staff

Marylou DeWald, Director Outreach Services and Regional Director Small Business and Technology Development Center. Marylou is responsible for entrepreneurial business outreach for the Bloch School, overseeing development of significant programs that will increase the current reach and impact of the school’s business development services to the Greater Kansas City business community.

 

Larry serves as the interim Regional Director for the UMKC SBDC. He is also responsible for counseling and training small- and medium-size businesses and entrepreneurs in the Kansas City, Missouri area. He offers comprehensive personalized consulting that meets the individualized needs of area businesses. This consultation includes marketing, accounting, financial analysis, business acquisition and finance packaging.

While Larry enjoys serving small businesses in many ways, what he enjoys the most is teaching workshops, preparing financial statements and helping clients fight through pricing issues. With a background in banking, Larry is passionate about helping clients get through the maze of red tape and paperwork necessary to gain access to capital. He believes in helping small businesses learn how to do for themselves ... not just do the project for them. While some say the three most important things for small business is location, location, location ... Larry contends the three most important things are cash flow, cash flow, cash flow.

He has been an active entrepreneur for more than 20 years launching and operating several successful businesses on a full and part-time basis. He served as a manufacturer's representative for more than 25 manufacturers.

Larry, a native of the Kansas City area, has an undergraduate degree in marketing. He received his Masters of Business Administration from Northwest Missouri State University.

Ms. DeHart is currently part of the executive team for the UMKC SBDC. As a business consultant, Ms. DeHart is responsible for consulting and training small business owners, employees and entrepreneurs located in the Kansas City area in all aspects of strategic and tactical processes for small businesses. Her consulting is comprehensive and personalized for each client with which she engages. Her portfolio of skills includes marketing, accounting, financial analysis, and business operations from start-up to acquisition.

Prior to joining the Small Business Development Center, Ms. DeHart spent more than 20 years building her business expertise through small business operations management and ownership. The early part of her career was spent as the operations and office manager of her family business, Ward & Garrison Co., Inc., where she held direct responsibility for all internal business support services. An industry leader in machinery rebuilding, design, and fabrication for metal manufacturing, her breath of responsibility included P&L accountability, finance, HR, sales/marketing, and materials management. In addition, she negotiated and administered annual sales blanket orders, exclusive territory vendor contracts and the business insurance package for all employees.

With regard to academic background, Ms. DeHart is an alumnus of the Henry W. Bloch School of Business and Public Administration, UMKC, where she received her BS in Business Administration.

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