The Enterprise Center, Inc. along with the City hosted a MAP graduation ceremony honoring 28 individuals and businesses, 7:00 p.m., Wed., May 28 at Council Chambers, Rochester City Hall.
MAP provides entrepreneurs interested in starting or expanding their own business with training, technical assistance and access to low interest loans. With funding from M & T Bank, the Enterprise Center, Inc. and the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, MAP’s overall goal is to support viable small businesses in Rochester.
Graduates from the program attended a 12-week business ownership training program. There was a mix of startup and existing businesses who participated in the classes.
Sally Kamprath, President, ReHouse Architectural Salvage, feels “we can go forward with the correct knowledge to grow our corporation. This course is a great opportunity for a new start up and businesses wanting to expand, the City of Rochester will benefit from well educated entrepreneurs.”
The 12-week training program covered all aspects of operating a small business, including going into business, taxes, legal/business law, budgeting, financial statements, recordkeeping, computer applications and employee issues.
“The training was invaluable, the information that we received really added much more value than the $50.00 that we paid as participants,” was Van Smith’s, Recovery Houses, thoughts on the program. “I honestly feel like we, as a class, have been informed of the correct way of establishing a business and given the tools.”
Persephone Modeste felt the course was worth the time and money she invested. "The microenterprise Assistance Program (MAP) helped me to realize that my desire to establish a business and help the women in our community could be more than a dream. The quality and the cost of the MAP program is unprecedented. The education provided through MAP staff, community and business professionals led me to reassess my goals and outcomes. I now have the tools, knowledge and on-going support to develop, institute and maintain a community organization that will provide services to enhance homes and families, starting with women."
Program “graduates” who completed the educational and technical assistance components will be eligible to apply for low-cost, flexible term financing, in addition to receiving assistance in accessing capital from other public and private resources. The program includes a post-business support program to nurture and strengthen developing businesses in their startup phase.
Applications are being accepted for a fall 2008 class, those interested in participating must contact The Enterprise Center for an application, 226-1623.
Posted On: Thursday, May 29th, 2008 @ 11:30 am by Web Administrator Full View
Steve Sink
Business editor, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle
(February 3, 2008) — Nicole Lauriano wants to open a funeral home for pets.
So on Thursday night she was one of 50 people who came to City Hall to learn about a pilot program aimed at helping entrepreneurs get started or get better at what they're already doing.
The Microenterprise Assistance Program is a joint effort of Rochester's economic development office and The Enterprise Center, an affiliate of Rural Opportunities Inc., which, despite its name, works in cities like Rochester as well as rural areas.
"This is the city of some of the greatest entrepreneurs ever," Mayor Robert Duffy said in announcing the program. "George Eastman, Chester Carlson, Jacob Bausch, Henry Lomb.
"Someone from this program might be the next Arunas Chesonis," Duffy said, invoking the name of the PAETEC founder and chief executive who delighted the mayor last year with his plan to build a new corporate headquarters downtown.
Not everyone who attended Thursday's informational session will get selected for the program, which starts March 5 and continues each Wednesday from 6 to 9 p.m. through May 21. Philip Banks, the city's deputy economic development commissioner, said he expects the class to have from 20 to 25 members.
"But people who don't make this go-round may very well get selected next time," Banks said.
The instructor will be Professor James Grillo of the State University College at Alfred, a veteran small business owner.
I have no idea if Lauriano will be one of those chosen, but, as both a dog and cat owner, I can understand her aspirations. She already is a funeral director, for humans, and wants to provide caring services for pets and the people who love them.
By the time the microenterprise classes wrap up, the participants will have at least a rough draft of a business plan. They also will be entitled to more help from the city and The Enterprise Center. The city, for example, works closely with neighborhood business associations and knows where there is available space for new businesses.
If all goes well, Rochester will have a bunch of new enterprises in a few months. May they all be successful.
To learn more
You can still apply for the program beginning March 5. Call the city economic development office at (585) 428-6965 or go online to www.roeci.org, the Web site of The Enterprise Center. The program costs $50.
Posted On: Monday, February 04th, 2008 @ 10:33 am by Web Administrator Full View
The Rural Opportunities Enterprise Center, Inc. (ROECI), an affiliate corporation of Rural Opportunites, Inc. (ROI) created an advistory group known as the Winery Capital & Credit Advisory Board (WCAB) which is populated with several winery owners, the NYS Wine & Grape Foundation.....
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Posted On: Friday, January 04th, 2008 @ 11:01 am by Web Administrator Full View
The Enterprise Center, Inc. (a program of Rural Opportunities, Inc.) and the Allegany Business Center have partnered to offer The Finger Lakes Trading Cooperative program in March!
The Finger Lakes Trading Cooperative program is looking for rural business owners that would like assistance entering the world of e-commerce. The program provides the loan of a Kodak Digital Camera and a laptop computer for six months, if needed, and qualified participants can apply for startup and expansion loans. Opportunities to network with other business owners and technical assistance and training are also available.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton started this program with the assistance of Rural Opportunities, Inc. The idea was to expand the market for rural artists and businesses. Rural businesses can take advantage of this unique opportunity to expand their market with a 24/7 storefront. Your business can access previously inaccessible markets using the Internet as a resource to upcoming generations that accept technology and telecommunication as a given.
Kodak supported the program in the past with the donation of funds for the laptops and digital cameras. They continue to show their commitment to the community by providing additional support this year.
Small businesses with fewer than ten employees benefit the most from being on-line, 35% gain 10 to 99 percent of current sales directly or indirectly from the Internet. On average, Web users are upscale (25% have income over $80K), professional (50% are professional or managerial) and educated (64% have at least a college degree). Approximately 14% (2.5 million) of Web users have purchased products or services over the Internet.
If your business is ready to expand its market using e-commerce and the Internet then call for an application today, (1-888-379-0371) and learn how the Finger Lakes Trading Cooperative can help grow your business.
Posted On: Friday, January 04th, 2008 @ 11:18 am by Web Administrator Full View
Rural Opportunities, Inc. through The Enterprise Center, its economic development affiliate, is accepting applications for the Microenterprise Assistance Program (MAP) classes to be held in the City of Rochester this Spring.
According to Kathleen English, Business Development Officer for Rural Opportunities, Inc., “We are very lucky to have an experienced teacher for the program, Jim Grillo, Professor of Business and former Vice President at Alfred State College. Professor Grillo designed and developed the Entrepreneurship major at Alfred State, and not only brings experience from the classroom, but real life.”
“The materials presented are invaluable but the networking that occurs during the class is even more valuable. Businesses no longer feel they are alone, they develop relationships that last long after the class concludes.”
A recent graduate of MAP, Dan White, Keuka Studios, Inc. wrote, “It's rare to have an opportunity to learn from someone with such diverse experience in business. Jim has a unique blend of academics and real world business experience making this one of the most beneficial business courses we have taken.”
This program addresses the specific issues related to the startup and expansion of a small business. We endeavor to present a logical sequence of issues, questions, examples, and action steps that will lead entrepreneurs to develop a practical and usable business plan. The class supplies steps, and the entrepreneur supplies the effort to chart a course for a successful business venture.
This program is made possible by funding from the City of Rochester, M&T Bank and The Enterprise Center, a program of Rural Opportunities, Inc.
MAP’s goal is to support existing and start-up micro-businesses. Participants will be selected through a competitive screening process. Those selected for the program will attend a 11-week training course, meeting every Wednesday from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., starting February 6 and ending April 16. The cost for the course is $50, pre-registration is required.
Participants need to complete an application. These are available by clicking below. The applications need to printed and mailed or faxed to the number on the application.
Lee Beaulac, Senior VP of Housing and Economic Development for Rural Opportunities, Inc. acted as the master of ceremonies as Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Congressman James Walsh joined executives of Fralo Plastech Manufacturing at a ribbon cutting ceremony that marked the successful start of a new business venture that has already created 50 new jobs and put an idle former GM plant in Syracuse, New York into productive reuse in an environmentally-friendly operation.
Fralo Plastech Manufacturing LLC is a new Salina, New York based firm (near Syracuse, NY) that used the critical funding to purchase the world’s largest plastic blow-molding machine that is being used to produce exceptionally strong, environmentally friendly wastewater and stormwater tanks, septic tanks and related products. FRALO’s plastic tank manufacturing operation has already had a significant positive economic development impact by creating the 50 new well-paying, full-time jobs in the challenged greater Syracuse community.
Rural Opportunities, Inc., through its economic development affiliate the Enterprise Center (ROECI) is under contract with Coastal Enterprises. Inc., a New Market Tax Credit allocatee located in Portland Maine, to market the NMTC program to potential projects in New York State. This agreement allows CEI to concentrate on the projects at hand while ROECI staff recruits additional potential NMTC projects that may qualify for future allocations of tax credits.
“We’re very pleased to be partnering with CEI to bring access New Markets Tax Credits to Upstate New York” stated Dana Brunett, President of the Enterprise Center. He further added “Right now we’re putting together another four deals here in the Upstate region that could potentially use New Markets Tax Credits to attract investors to their projects”
CEI has a combined federal allocation of $129 million in NMTC tax credit investment capacity awarded in a competitive process run by the U.S. Treasury Department’s CDFI Fund. Its prime service area includes Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, western Massachusetts and upstate New York..
“Fralo Plastech is pleased to be a successful new business that has been able to secure the financing it needed through the New Markets Tax Credit program that is allowing us to create these new jobs and produce a competitive, environmentally-friendly product,” said Francis Lombardi, CEO of Fralo Plastech Manufacturing, LLC. “We are very appreciative of the support that Senator Clinton, Congressman Walsh, and our entire congressional delegation have given to us and to this important federal tax credit program.”
But the environmental benefits are even wider in scope. The plastic tanks manufactured by Fralo also use recycled materials making them not only environmentally friendly because they help contain wastewater and pollutants, but also because they make good use of recycled natural resources.
The key to attracting the needed capital to allow Fralo to finance the purchase of the new $6 million plastic blow-molding machine, which is the centerpiece of the new manufacturing venture, was the use of the federal New Markets Tax Credits (NMTCs).
The New Markets Tax Credit program was authorized by the U.S. Congress and is run by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund. The purpose of the NMTC program is to provide financial incentives to help attract significant investment capital to historically underserved communities. The program is expanding the availability of credit, investment capital, and financial services in distressed urban and rural communities.
The NMTCs provide the incentive to debt and equity investors in the form of a 39% federal income tax credit to make investing such capital into qualified projects in designated eligible low-income areas more attractive. The financial support often helps mitigate the sometimes substantial risks associated with investing large amounts of money in less-accessible, rural, or already economically challenged areas.
This infusion of private-sector capital into urban and rural low-income areas is financing community development projects, stimulating new economic opportunity, and creating jobs in some of the most challenged areas.
Nationally, the New Markets Tax Credit program’s approximately 130 sponsoring organizations have been working with $6 billion of NMTC investment allocation that were awarded in the first two rounds of a competitive application process managed by the CDFI Fund. A third round of NMTC allocation awards is pending and should be announced within the next 30 days. Congress originally authorized $15 billion in NMTC investment capacity to be awarded and the program is coming up for reauthorization in the next year.
Posted On: Thursday, February 22nd, 2007 @ 12:58 pm by Web Administrator Full View
Local Winery Owners Work With Local Non-Profit to Access New Lines of Capital
When: Thursday, November 30th
Where: Keuka College
Gannett Room
Lightner Library
Penn Yan, New York.
According to a recent study of the industry conducted by MKF, the wine and grape industry is responsible for contributing approximately $2.8 billion each year to our regional economy. New York wines have come of age and are eagerly sought after around the world. But, will we be able to capitalize on the growing popularity of our regional wine products and successfully sustain this important sector of our economy? We hope so. One question that is being asked, however, relates to the availability of credit and capital, and whether or not there are adequate financing opportunities within the region for our expanding winery industry.
Rural Opportunities, Inc. (ROI) has been examining this issue for the past year and has taken steps to better understand wineries and their challenges with respect to access to credit and capital. Last year, ROI created the Winery Credit and Capital Advisory Board (WCCAB). This group has met four times in the past year and has helped inform the discussion and has helped ROI understand the issues from their perspective. Six months ago, we completed a survey of 17 small and intermediate sized banks and 6 industrial development agencies in the region.
On Thursday, November 30th, we are pleased to sponsor the first of a series of round table discussions where we will explore the very important issue of access to credit and capital by the New York winery industry, particularly in the Finger Lakes region of the state. We have invited a cross section of the industry including winery owners, bankers, other credit providers, federal and state regulators, economic development agencies, rural development agencies and organizations and elected officials. Sponsors of the event include the Bank of America, Rural Opportunities, Inc., Keuka College, and the SIFE (Students in Free Enterprize) Team from Keuka College.
ROI is a private, not-for-profit regional community development and human service organization providing services to farmworkers, low-income families and economically depressed communities throughout New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, Vermont, and Puerto Rico.
Posted On: Thursday, January 25th, 2007 @ 7:36 pm by Web Administrator Full View
