SUNY Canton SBDC Invites Businesses to Buy Local Matchmaker Event

CANTON, NY (10/31/2016)(readMedia)-- Purchasing officers from large businesses, industries, government agencies and prime contractors in St. Lawrence County are invited to see what the area's small businesses have to offer at the 2016 Buy Local Matchmaker event.

Buy Local Matchmaker will be held from 8 a.m. to noon Wednesday, Nov. 16, In SUNY Canton's Richard W. Miller Campus Center Room 212. It will be the third time the SUNY Canton Small Business Development Center has hosted a matchmaker event in St. Lawrence County. Previous events have resulted in numerous connections between local small businesses and purchasing agencies.

Matchmaking is like 'speed-dating.' Businesses sign up for 10-minute meetings with purchasing officers and have that short time to network and share marketing materials. When time is up, the business moves to the next agency. The hope is that agencies will learn about what is available locally, and a potential match can be made between supplier and purchaser.

Buy Local Matchmaker is co-hosted by the St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce with generous sponsorship from Alcoa.

"In speaking with some of the larger businesses around the county, we realized that they are purchasing from neighboring cities or online - mostly because they don't know what is available locally," said Brooke Rouse, Executive Director of the St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce. "We certainly have a tremendous amount of skilled, hard-working businesses right here. This event shines a light on that and creates personal relationships, which is how we like to do business in St. Lawrence County."

Registration for the Buy Local Matchmaker is free for purchasing officers, but pre-registration is required.

"To attract a wide variety of local vendors it is necessary to have a full slate of purchasing officers committed to attend," explained SBDC Business Advisor Michelle Collins. "Signing up early not only assures you will get one of the limited slots for purchasing agents, but will also help to attract a good selection of local small businesses for the best possible outcome for purchasers."

For more information about the event, call the SBDC at (315) 386-7312, email sbdc@canton.edu, or visit www.canton.edu/sbdc.

About the SBDC

The SUNY Canton SBDC offers free direct counseling and a wide range of management and technical assistance services. Small business advisors help start-up companies develop business plans, assist existing businesses prepare to expand or offer industry specific resources. Business planning services are provided free of charge. It is one of 1,000 Small Business Development Centers to provide no-cost business consulting and training to more than a million existing and startup small businesses each year, creating and retaining 156,000 jobs.

About SUNY Canton

SUNY Canton is Northern New York's premier college for career-driven bachelor's degrees, associate degrees and professional certificate programs. The college delivers quality hands-on programs in engineering technology, health, management and public service and recently received number one rankings in library resources, library services and tutoring services in the SUNY Student Opinion Survey. The college's faculty members are noted for their professional real-world experience in addition to outstanding academic credentials. SUNY Canton OnLine offers hundreds of flexible and convenient courses as well as ten exclusively online bachelor's degrees. The college's 15 athletic teams compete as members of the NCAA Division III.

-www.canton.edu-