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Notable Activities
     
Services Cooperative Association has been very active in community economic development
and entrepreneurial education activities since 1983. A few of the many benchmarking activities include:

1983 - Founded Services Cooperative Association from an Economic Development Research project of The Houston Chamber of Commerce on the importance of developing Houston's small businesses.
1984 - Sent delegates to the Texas State Entrepreneurship Education Conference where one was appointed coordinator for the Greater Houston Area Entrepreneurship Education Steering Committee.
1985 - Founded the first small business incubator in Houston, the Entrepreneurial Development Center (EDC), which houses start-up and emerging companies. The EDC has become Texas' oldest business incubator.
1986 - Sent delegates to the White House Conference on Small Business where one was elected Vice Chairman of the Texas Delegation and another was co-author of a resolution that became law.
1987 - Received a Mayoral Proclamation for graduating the first Houston company from a business incubator.
1988 - Sponsored the "First Houston Entrepreneurship Awards" recognizing those organizations fostering small business growth in Houston and became a charter incubator for the Texas Business Incubator Association.
1889 - Sponsored the "First Houston Small Business Seed Capital Fund" to provide financial assistance to start-up and early development stage companies.
1990 - Founded the nation's first business incubator for women, the Womens Business Center (WBC), with development programs to accelerate the growth of woman-owned businesses and the female career professional.
1991 - Founded the Software Business Center (SBC), the first business incubator for software developers and computer-related companies and formed the Incubator Self Sufficiency Group (ISSG), an economic development service bureau.
1992 - Founded the Product Development Center (PDC), a business incubator for inventors, investors, new product commercialization and technology transfer.
1993 - Founded the International Business Center (IBC), the first business incubator for international services, importers and exporters and created the nation's first Certified Business Incubators for the Texas Business Incubator Association in the "Beta Project for Certification, Efficiency and Curriculum Development"
1994 - Sponsored the first "Tribute to Houston's Entrepreneurial Community" recognizing outstanding entrepreneurial leadership in Houston.
1995 - Houston host incubator for the United States Information Agency - Institute of International Education, International Visitors Program and recognized "Houston - Emerging Business Capital of the World!"
1996 - Received a Mayoral Proclamation for sponsoring "Entrepreneurial Community Tribute Day, July 3, 1996," sent delegates to the Texas Governor's Conference on Small Business where one was co-author of a resolution for legislation to prohibit public/private competition and sponsored the "Living the American Dream Award" recognizing self-made entrepreneurial success.
1997 - Created the "Building Your American Dream" educational program for business owners, founded the Health-Medical Enterprise Center (H/MEC), a business incubator for healthcare product and service providers and sponsored the "8th Entrepreneurial Workshop and 1997 Tribute to Houston's Entrepreneurial Community."
1998 - Celebrated 15 years as "Houston's Business CrossRoads" bringing together the diversity of the Houston Business Community and received a Certificate of Recognition from Houston City Council for 15th Annual Houston Business Breakfast.
1999 - Received a Mayoral Proclamation signifying July 7, 1999 as "Services Cooperative Association Emerging Business Day" and sponsored the "10th Entrepreneurial Workshop - Accelerated Entrepreneurship."
2000 - Recognized as "One of Houston's Core Entrepreneurial Groups" by the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and recognized "As an industry leader and pioneer in business incubation" by the National Business Incubation Association (NBIA).
2001 - Received the "2001 BBB Gold Star Award" from the Greater Houston Area Better Business Bureau, nominated for the Annual Innovation Award by the NBIA and received a Mayoral Proclamation "Services Cooperative Association Day - July 3rd."
2002 - Created the "Houston Hospitality Program" to assist small business owners from other countries in starting businesses in Houston.
2003 - Celebrated 20 years as "Houston's Emerging Business CrossRoads" with national recognition and sponsored the First Annual "Holiday Gift Exchange" for the Federation of Houston Networking Groups."
2004 - Sponsored  "Houston Entrepreneurial Heroes"  luncheon recognizing those groups empowering local entrepreneurs and received a Mayoral Proclamation signifying July 1, 2004 as "Services Cooperative Association Houston Heroes Day."
2005 - Sponsored the 16th Annual Entrepreneurial Workshop "Entrepreneurial Excellence" recognizing Houston's entrepreneurial independence.
2006 - Invited by the People's Republic of China to speak at the formation of the Women Entrepreneurs Association in China. (declined)
2007 - Sponsored the Women's Business Assistance Forum Online for women business owners assisting other women business owners.
2008 - Commenced a project to make the Small Business Certification Process more expeditious.
2009 - Commenced Start A Business Store/Mall.
2010 - Commenced LunchBreak.biz and Women Entrepreneurs Unite World. Received a Public Service Citation from the U.S. Small Business Administration.
2011 - Commenced Bayou Walk, resurrected Houston Proud.and created Master Mind Focus Group for Women Business Owners.
2012 - Commenced Open 24-7 in Houston.
2013 - Commenced Save the AstroDome Project as a Residency Business Incubator with every business resource under one roof.
2014 - Mayor Annise Parker Proclaims Services Cooperative Association 31st Annual Economic Forecast Day January 8th, 2014.
2015 - Commenced Office Building Cooperative as an office building owned by its resident companies.
2016 - Mayor Sylvester Turner recognizes Services Cooperative Association for 33 years of Service to the Houston Business Community March 16th, 2016.
2017 - National acknowledgement that Co-Op companies have won virtually every award for business growth in Houston, some nationally and some even internationally.
2018 - Ranked the #1 New Business Development Group in Houston by Houston Proud with referral revenues exceeding one billion dollars..
2019 - Exceeded 165,500 companies having worked with and created the Virtual Accelerator Program!
2020 - Went totally virtual!
2021 - Celebrated 38 years of service to the community!
1983 to present - Continued sponsor of annual economic development events including "Houston Economic Forecast  Breakfast" and "Best Introduction Contest" in January; "Entrepreneurial Workshop" and "Houston Heroes" to celebrate Independence Day in July; "Mini Business Expo" in April, "Trade Fair" in November; "Halloween BooFest" in October and "Jingle Mingle Holiday Gift Exchange" in December, both benefiting a local charity.

The self-funded, independent research conducted by Services Cooperative Association conclusively demonstrated that:

1) Business incubators accelerated business growth, resulting in an entire generation of business incubators being named "accelerators."
2) Women were starting business at a faster rate than men, resulting in the federal government commencing the Women's Business Centers initiative.
3) Entrepreneurship could be taught, resulting in colleges and universities across the nation creating entrepreneurship programs and degrees.
4) Entrepreneurship education could be measured in absolute terms of employment and wealth creation, resulting in the term "Entrepreneurial Development." (And the "Entrepreneurial Development Centers and Entrepreneurial Development Programs created around the nation.)
5) Incubating service companies created more employment while incubating technology companies created more wealth, resulting in virtually every state in the nation starting technology incubators.
6) Incubators operated as charities and utilizing advisors without actual "hands-on" business experience did not produce successful companies in the same dollar cost ratio that incubators charging fees and utilizing advisors with experience did, resulting in a grand sweep of incubators conforming to the business model of fees and experience pioneered by SCA Research.

For more information about related activities, click here.
To see a partial list of endorsements, click here.
For assistance in forming a Cooperative Association of
Independent Business Owners in your community, click here.

Some of the charities SCA has supported include:


























For immediate response about Business Development for incubators,
resident companies and entrepreneurs, send e-mail to: Emerging Business Centers

Services Cooperative Association
713.932.7495
For more information about this site, contact:  Yvonne A. Ybarra - a Womens Business Center graduate company

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