SBA Successfully Brings Emerging 200 Initiative to Syracuse

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), an agency of the federal government that aids, counsels, assists, and protects the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation, recently graduated its first class of Emerging 200 (e200) business leaders in Syracuse.

The e200 initiative is to identify 200 inner-city businesses across the country that show a high potential for growth. The chosen businesses are provided with the network, resources, motivation and opportunity to participate in an intensive curriculum focused on developing a winning expansion strategy for their business, including options for capital access and contracting, required to build a sustainable business of size and scale. As the program was a first for Syracuse this year, the overall success encouraged the SBA to begin developing plans to hold the program in the city again next year.

According to The Central New York Business Journal, SBA associate administrator for entrepreneurial development, Michael Chodos expressed their satisfaction with bringing e200 to Syracuse. "Syracuse is incredibly blessed with a very active university and college community, a very active business community, and a lot of folks who are really interested in providing coordinated support."

After participating in and completing a seven month program, The Syracuse e200 program graduated 13 local business leaders in a November 2 ceremony at Marhsall Hall at the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF).

The Syracuse e200 program partnered with a number of local organizations, including CenterState CEO and The Tech Garden.

For the full article, view The Central New York Business Journal's November 18, 2011 issue.