A Helping Hand for Start-Ups

After a successful career as a corporate executive, he volunteers as a mentor for entrepreneurs.

- By Emma Patch

PROFILE

WHO: Ricardo Casas, age 70

WHAT: Assistant District Director of SCORE for Southeast Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands

WHERE: Miami

A lot of people have heard of SCORE but may not know exactly what it does. Our mission is to support the small-business community through mentoring and education. We have 10,000 volunteers. They are mostly mentors, but we also have people who present webinars and support in other functions. Half of the volunteers at SCORE are working professionals. SCORE has served over 11 million people since its start. Sessions average an hour, and last year our volunteers provided around 4.6 million hours of mentoring and education to clients.

How is it funded? We are a resource partner of the Small Business Administration, and as such, Congress provides funding for SCORE. We supplement that with different grants and relationships with community partners.