What's New This Week

Marketing

The Westchester SBDC is participated in two trade shows in October. The first was the RBA (Rockland Business Association) B2B Expo. The sold-out show brought more than 200 exhibitors and 600 attendees together for a full day of meetings and displays. The annual event helps strengthen SBDC’s relationship with the SUNY Rockland campus and SBA relationships with as both entities exhibit in SBDC space. The Center attended the Putnam Economic Development Exposition and Workshop, which hosted about 150 exhibitors and 350 attendees. Both shows are effective client recruiting opportunities that also provide excellent lender and additional resource opportunities.

One of the Farmingdale business advisors represented the SBDC at “Farmingdale Summit”, a local civic oriented event supported by local government. The Summit is a forum for dialogue among business leaders, non-profit executives, school district leaders, presidents of service organizations, religious leaders, elected officials and students of the Farmingdale School District.

Program Development: Products and Services

The Westchester SBDC is active in providing information about Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC), financial literacy and workforce training in the region. One of the business advisors attended a meeting of the Child Care Council of Westchester Partnership for Affordable Child Care to conduct SBDC, EITC, and workforce training. The advisor also conducted a Financial Smarts workshop with Yonkers Riverfront Library. The center sent a skills survey to 450 employers using lists from the NYS DOL and other partners. One of the business advisors researched and discussed a broader SBDC role in the Westchester County EITC Campaign with the director of the Westchester One Stop Center. The advisor is coordinating a second round of EITC workshops that will be held at regional Educational Opportunity Centers (EOC).

The director of the Mid-Hudson SBDC met with Marylin Kovaric of the Wappingers Falls School District to discuss District use of SBDC business education resources such as EntreSkillsTM.

The Westchester SBDC business advisors are cross-training each other to expand their capacity for delivering seminars. For example, one of the advisors developed an excellent seminar on employers’ use of EITC programs as a job retention strategy. He is sharing this workshop with other advisors so they will be able to "sell" the training event to supporters and sponsors. In addition, several advisors will be able to deliver the seminar, thereby enhancing the Center's seminar capability.

Sponsors, Host Institutions, Partners and Alliances

On October 4, the 6th Annual Women’s Expo was held at the Middle Country Public Library in Centereach, NY. Business Advisors at the Stony Brook SBDC have been active participants on the Long Island Fund for Women & Girls and the Middle Country Library Foundation Women’s Expo Committee for several years. The Women’s Expo is a showcase and a marketplace for Long Island women entrepreneurs: artisans, importers, designers and distributors of products. The goal of the Expo is to provide a venue for women entrepreneurs on Long Island to market their products and to serve as a vehicle to promote economic development and networking among women entrepreneurs and business owners.

The director of the Mid-Hudson SBDC hosted a visit by SBA New York Region Administrator William Manger, District Director Jose Sifontes, Marketing Manager Miguel Centeno, and Public Relations Manager John Miller. The meeting was arranged to coordinate SBA outreach efforts in the Mid-Hudson area. Following the meeting the director participated in a lenders’ roundtable co-sponsored by the SBA and the Ulster County Chamber of Commerce. The event took place at the Ulster County Legislative Chambers and attracted about 30 people from the banking industry.

In early October, a Stony Brook business advisor attended a Citibank-sponsored networking and learning seminar at the Citibank Hauppauge Media Center focusing on trade shows, sales strategies and effective networking techniques. Presentations were made by marketing and sales consultants. Topics such as the importance of marketing yourself as a person, techniques for closing the sale and a step-by-step approach of preparing for trade shows were discussed.

Technology

The Albany SBDC conducted a self-assessment of internal and external technology resources utilized by the Center. The director of the center, current chair of the SBDC Technology Committee, developed two charts to illustrate the resources, arranged by type of organization (federal and state agency, campus, other), and their relationship to the SBDC technology advisor. The charts will be shared with Technology Committee members at the annual fall Director’s Retreat, and then shared with regional center directors throughout the network.

In September, the Stony Brook SBDC’s DETA Advisor attended the annual Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program (SATOP) meeting at the Technology Incubator Garden in Syracuse. The SATOP program, which was initiated in 1995 through a grant funded by NASA, holds an annual meeting for representatives of Economic Development Organizations. A general overview and update of the program was provided by the SATOP Director and members of his staff. The President of the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce also spoke to the attendees. SATOP provides up to 40 hours of free technical assistance for entrepreneurs and small businesses through Alliance Partners such as Clarkson University, RPI and Syracuse University.

The SPD Gazette is a brief newsletter distributed via email and posted on the Internal Web Site. It will feature a column to be titled, What’s New This Week, in which the network will share best practices in strategic objectives. A series of articles in the Gazette will explain the program’s statewide approach to strategic objectives in six key areas:

• Marketing
• Professional Development and Certification
• Program Development: Products and Services
• Special Objectives (statewide implications)
• Strategic Partners and Alliances
• Technology, Information and Communication

For more information or answers to your questions, call Tom Morley at 914-375-2107or email him at SPD@Mercy.edu

Send your report forms to SPD@mercy.edu