Illinois Small Business Development Center

Start a new business or grow your existing business with expert advice, workshops and resources. Plus, if you need help dealing with local government, you’ve come to the right place.

New Client Sign Up

No Cost One-On-One Advising for Small Businesses

The Illinois SBDC at the Chicagoland Chamber has already helped over 600 small business owners and entrepreneurs. Chamber membership is not required to take advantage of SBDC services.

Receive Assistance With:

  • Business planning
  • Guidance on business financing
  • Market research and marketing plans
  • Customer relations
  • Dealing with local government
  • Connections to additional resources
  • Branding
  • How to use data
  • And more…

Can SBDC Help You?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, the IL Small Business Development Center can help you.

  • Are you starting your own business?
  • Do you have a business plan?
  • Does your business need access to markets, contracts or capital?
  • Do you need help with financial analysis and planning?
  • Are you interested in doing business with the government?
  • Do you need strategic planning to guide your business growth?
  • Are you interested in integrating the latest technology tools into your business?

Small Businesses Need Cyber Expertise

As an integral part of the global economy, it’s estimated that over 40% of small businesses have experienced a cyber-attack. If that’s happened to you, you know how devastating it can be. Fortunately, there are qualified professionals volunteering to help. Our Cybersecurity Health Check program pairs volunteers with qualified small businesses to help our small businesses understand and minimize their cybersecurity risk.
The cybersecurity assessment will take a few hours of your time, both on your own and in meeting with the volunteer or small business. The Health Check provides a cybersecurity check list showing places where small businesses can mitigate their risk and what they are doing well.
Contact us today for this NO-COST service : sbdc@chicagolandchamber.org

Learn more about the center for Cyber Safety and Education

Have questions or need to contact us?

Meet the Team

Adrienne McFarland

Director, Meet the Team

Adrienne is a Marketing and Event Planning professional born and raised in Memphis Tennessee. She has been a Chicago resident since 2012. She is the owner of Chaibles, an event supply small business, she and her husband launched in 2017, located in Chicago, Illinois.  Adrienne began her career as a marketing and game day operations coordinator for the NCAA Ohio Valley Conference. She knows what truly drives conversions, builds relationships, and engagement strategies. She believes it’s not mastering the marketing plan, it’s how well you connect with people you’re trying to help and get to know and then communicating your understanding back to them.

Upon arriving to Chicago, Adrienne held a fundraising position with ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, overseeing various donor relationships and fundraising events across the Midwest region. In addition to her professional career, She is an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. She was married in 2016 to her husband Billy. They have a 2 year old daughter, Aja.  Adrienne holds a BA in Mass Communications and a MA in Sports Administration from Tennessee State University, Nashville, Tennessee.

Eric Horn

Business Advisor, Meet the Team

About SBDC

Illinois Small Business Development Centers have been providing assistance to Illinois businesses since 1984. The Centers have served over 1,063,416 pre-venture and existing small businesses and have assisted clients secure access to over $3.25 Billion in debt and equity business financing. For more information on the Illinois Small Business Development Center network.

Learn More

SBDC Partnerships

The SBDC at the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Department of Commerce and Economic opportunity and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.

Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities will be made if requested at least two weeks in advance. Contact us by calling (312) 494-6790 or by emailing sbdc@chicagolandchamber.org.