is a unique business development organization founded by a group of small business men and women who recognized the value in fostering individual initiative in the free enterprise system at grass roots levels of emerging enterprises.

Created from research by the Houston Chamber of Commerce - Small Business Council from 1980 to 1982, the cooperative held its first meeting on March 15, 1983, with 14 companies represented. As of December 21, 2011, more than 44,192 companies have attended SCA business building programs, more than 37,308 tips, leads, referrals and new business items have been reported, multiple SCA Chapters have operated throughout Houston and the cooperative has received national and international acclaim for its accomplishments in economic development and entrepreneurship education without grants, gifts, contributions, donations or public funding.

The methodology of the co-op is to teach entrepreneurship in a synergistic environment, conducive to the growth of emerging enterprises, where early stage entrepreneurs have the opportunity to interact with owners of established companies for a demonstration of the ability to be self-sufficient and self-reliant common to all successful enterprise development projects while utilizing SCA's Rapid Growth System* and The Co-Op Advantage®   to supply the components necessary for accelerated business growth, including: Market Expansion, Business Development, Entrepreneurial Education and Professional Growth.

What is learned in 6 months with SCA will last a lifetime for a business.

SCA was the first to recognize the importance of small business development, entrepreneurship education and emerging business incubation and dedicated its efforts to providing these vital services independent of the whims of public funding.

SCA sponsored the first small business incubator in Houston, which became the oldest in Texas, and the first Womens Business Center in the nation, again totally without grants, gifts, contributions, donations or tax dollars.

That Houston had more business incubators, more universities teaching entrepreneurship, more business networking groups and more business starts, since 1999, than any other city in the United States, is a tribute to SCA's vision.

We believe: "To teach entrepreneurship, you must be able to do it." We challenge those publicly funded small business development centers still feeding at the public trough to stop using tax-payer money to compete with private sector and to use successful business owners as their small business counselors rather than people whose businesses have failed and bureaucrats having no actual hands-on business ownership experience. See Letter to Washington.

To establish a Co-Op in your area, click here.

*Service Mark of Services Cooperative Association

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