Southside Technology center gets $1 million grant

The Danville Regional Foundation announced a grant Wednesday of nearly $1 million to the Southside Business Technology Center to expand its consulting services to Danville, Pittsylvania County and Caswell County, N.C.

Currently operating in Martinsville, the SBTC helps provide business-consulting services to enhance the economy of the region.

“Recruiting business from outside (is good),” said Karl Stauber, the president and CEO of the Danville Regional Foundation, “but we also have to grow our own.”

Stauber said he and the foundation were impressed with “the quality of service and the track record they’ve already established.”

The SBTC provides consulting services for local and regional existing and emerging private businesses, non-profit organizations, economic development organizations, local governments using business analysts, Virginia Tech and industry experts. The SBTC also helps business students from local colleges find internships.

It assists in job creation and retention, increasing investments and growth, based on the needs of particular businesses.

Director Eva Doss said the SBTC works with a variety of businesses, but mostly focuses on those in the manufacturing and technology industries. It looks for companies “that will produce the highest economic impact,” she said.

One of the first steps will be creating capacity and recruiting staff for the new Danville office, which will be located at the Dan River Business Development Center in Ringgold Industrial Park and will open on Oct. 15.

Currently, the SBTC has been serving a few clients in the Danville area, including Danville Regional Airport, Chatham Communications and the Institute for Advanced Learning & Research.

“Through this grant, we can increase our capacity and serve more businesses based on very high demand,” Doss said. She said there’s a four-month backlog of businesses and companies seeking the center’s services.

• Contact Sarah Arkin at or (434) 791-7983.