In 'year like no other,' SCORE Maine supported 8,200 small businesses and entrepreneurs

File photo / Tim Greenway Nancy Strojny, SCORE Maine Assistant District Director

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As the pandemic sent demand for SCORE Maine's services soaring in 2020, the organization provided virtual business mentoring and education support to 8,218 small businesses and entrepreneurs statewide — an increase of 12% from the previous year.

The figures are from SCORE Maine's newly released annual report for 2020, a year that was busier than ever for the volunteer agency, a U.S. Small Business Administration resource partner.

"2020 marked our 10th year of growing our client services in Maine," Nancy Strojny, a longtime SCORE mentor and assistant district director for SCORE Maine, told Mainebiz. "In a year like no other, our mighty team of trusted volunteers made a difference in the lives of Maine's small business owners."

Like many of its clients it serves free of charge, SCORE transitioned to virtual meetings and events in 2020.

The year's achievements include facilitating 4,234 client sessions and 184 workshops attended by thousands of individuals on topics from online commerce to funding, the report shows. That includes national webinars attended by 3,975 Maine-based clients, and local Maine workshops attended by 3,194 clients in the state, according to Strojny.

SCORE Maine also helped entrepreneurs get 509 businesses off the ground that created 1,412 new jobs in the state.

Individuals thinking of starting a business made up 43% of SCORE Maine clients in 2020, compared to 37% that acquired or started a business in the last year and 37% in operation for more than a year.

Client success stories cited in the annual report include Burundi Star Coffee, a coffee shop and cafe in Portland that opened its doors in March 2020, sourcing directly from farmers in the African country. Another is the Herbert Grand Hotel in Kingfield, purchased by Shawn Donovan of Shawnz Hospitality in early 2020, and which survived — and thrived — during the pandemic.

Other longtime clients cited in the report include Tiny Homes of Maine, a Houlton-based client of SCORE in Bangor since 2016, and Blackie's Farm Fresh Produce in Auburn, a client of SCORE Portland since 2019.

“Our volunteers are essential to our vision of providing every person the support they need to thrive as a small business owner," SCORE Maine District Director Steve Veazey said in a news release. "Every one of our volunteer mentors enthusiastically share their expertise with our clients. We help clients achieve their goals which makes SCORE Maine the go-to resource in Maine."

The organization also noted that for every $1 the federal government appropriated to SCORE nationally, clients returned $67 to the federal treasury in tax revenues.