SBDC meets business challenges during Covid-hit 2020 Tim Murrill is the director of Solano Small Business Development Center. (Robinson Kuntz/Daily Republic) FAIRFIELD — The Covid-19 pandemic has created a surge of new business at the Solano Small Business Development Center. The Solano SBDC, in 2020, offered one-on-one advice to 936 business, a nearly 90% increase from 2019. While there was a wide range of topics discussed, SBDC officials said the most common was related to loans and grants, marketing and pivoting business models in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. “When the pandemic first began in March and April, we went from being a well-kept secret to a valuable resource for a lot of small businesses almost overnight,” SBDC Director Tim Murrill said in a statement. “We fielded hundreds of phone calls. Between March and May, we helped over 600 businesses with their SBA loans.”