Are you starting a business? Are you already in business? Do you have the best business team available? Do they qualify as a “business brain trust” that will put you on the road to success? Does your team have all the skills they need to help you succeed? The South Side Innovation Center (SSIC) will host the first annual Build Your Business Team event on May 12 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the SSIC, 2610 South Salina Street, Syracuse, where experienced and aspiring entrepreneurs will meet some of the area’s best business advisors. More than 35 bankers, lawyers, insurance specialists and accountants will be on hand in this Business to Business Networking Event. The business advisor team is commonly called the BAIL team — Banker, Accountant, Insurance, Lawyer — though SSIC advisors call it the “business brain trust.” The event is free. In addition to the business specialists on hand, there will be cooking demonstrations and free food. “It’s tough in today’s complicated, fast-moving business world to do it all,” said Bob Herz, SSIC director. “The way to be the best that you can be in business is to join your skills with the best talent available. Here’s an opportunity to meet some of those great business team members you need.” The bankers and lawyers and others will have table displays throughout the SSIC, explained Margaret Butler, director of the Entrepreneurial Assistance Program at SSIC, allowing entrepreneurs to meet with them informally and discuss their businesses and services. “This is a unique event in Syracuse,” Butler said, “where the people available to provide services and make your business a success gather in one place and come to you.” Among those attending and displaying at the event will be:
BANKS: Key Bank, Cooperative Federal, M&T Bank
ACCOUNTING FIRMS: Deborah Holloway Tax & Financial, JR Financial Solutions, Green & Seifert LAW FIRMS: Oot Law Offices, David Reed Business Counselor, Green & Seifter
INSURANCE COMPANIES: Combined Insurance, Haylor, Freyer & Coon, Brown & Brown
EMPLOYEMENT-LABOR AGENCIES: NYS Dept of Labor/CNY Works, CNY Works, CR Fletcher, JOBSplus!
MARKETING-ADVERTISING: CNY Vision, Plus Sign and Graphics, JOBSplus!
SMALL BUSINESS PROMOTERS: SBDC – Small Business Development Center, Small Business Administration, SCORE – Counselors to America’s Small Business, New England Financials, Syracuse Chamber of Commerce, South Side Entrepreneurs’ Association FOOD: Several teachers, and clients will provide food and cooking demonstrations
The SSIC helps people and aspiring entrepreneurs realize their dreams by providing training, education, assistance in business and marketing plans, and access to financing. SSIC and its resident member programs provide support and assistance to 23 tenant and three “virtual” (non-site) businesses, plus intensive entrepreneurial and business skills training, instruction, and mentoring to more than 300 clients each year, and to another 1,000 who attend classes, roundtables, and participate in hands-on skills sessions with instructors and in business-to-business sessions. Assistance includes creating business, financial, and marketing plans, developing websites, and obtaining expert legal and financial assistance and in obtaining financing. Clients include people from all walks of life who have an interest in starting a business or in learning or advancing their business skills. Programs for individuals with a disability and those below the poverty line have yielded 65 new businesses, of which 45 are continuing to operate. Several SSIC programs are funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration. The SSIC is a project of the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University.