Despite everything that happened in 2020, SCORE Bucks County was able to increase services to entrepreneurs by 63 percent.
The nonprofit organization that mentors and assists small business owners shifted to offering more webinars, mentoring sessions, and other support in the wake of the pandemic that upended nearly every aspect of life.
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The increase in services was one of the factors that led to SCORE Bucks County earning the 2020 SCORE Platinum Leadership Award, the highest recognition for any of the organization’s 348 nationwide chapters.
Hawa Salih, who lives in Morrisville Borough and launched a career as a licensed financial professional last year, said she was one of those who used SCORE Bucks County’s services.
Salih worked in the legal field previously and is an internationally-known women’s right advocate who gained asylum from Sudan in Africa. She is a survivor of genocide and was presented the International Woman of Courage Award by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama and the Golden Door Award from the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society of Philadelphia.
Credit: Submitted
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“I was eager to find something different and do something different,” said Salih of her new career.
Over the past months, the new entrepreneur worked with her SCORE Bucks County Mentor Steve as she moved to launching her own financial services business.
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“Steve was so professional. He opened my eyes and showed me what I have to do and how to grow,” she said. “I’m so fired up and the value [SCORE Bucks County] brings to us is so much.”
She said the support and mentoring has been effective to getting her business off the ground even with pandemic safety restrictions in place.
SCORE Bucks County Chairwoman Linda Zangrilli noted that the pandemic didn’t slow down the organization’s work.
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“Everything is virtual,” she said. “It has actually been a benefit for a lot of people to do their sessions via video.”
The 63 percent increase in SCORE Bucks County’s outreach was made up of 2,457 services offered between October 1, 2019 through September 30, 2020.
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“Because of COVID we dramatically increased the number of services we provided to the community,” she said. “Business owners have turned to organizations like ours to keep them alive.”
SCORE Bucks County’s increase in services offered could be part of a larger trend.
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U.S. Census Bureau data from last year showed significant growth in the creation of new small businesses.
News organization Quartz reported that some reasons for the spike were due to long-term unemployment, pandemic-related opportunities, and ongoing growth in online businesses and direct-to-consumer businesses.
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No matter what happens, Zangrilli said SCORE Bucks County plans to work even harder to grow volunteer and client engagement.
“We’re going in the right direction,” she said.
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