Helping Existing Businesses and Launching New Ventures
By offering programs that enhance, educate and accelerate growth of local businesses and organizations, the School of Management has contributed significantly to regional economic growth.
The Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership
Since its inception in 1987, the School of Management’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL) has helped advance the talents of hundreds of business owners and operators through a variety of executive education programs. By helping firms grow, CEL indirectly increases employment levels, expands the flow of resources into the economy and strengthens the tax base of the Western New York community. Nearly 900 CEL alumni employ more than 22,000 Western New Yorkers and their companies are worth more than $2 billion to the local economy.
CEL’s Core program is unique in matching participants with successful business people who serve as mentors, helping participants grow their businesses and overcome problems. During the 10-month program, Core participants are given the tools and resources to examine their entrepreneurial strengths and weaknesses while exploring new methods for business growth. This is accomplished in a confidential, noncompetitive environment with assistance from fellow classmates, School of Management faculty and external business experts.
The Strategic Entrepreneurship program was designed for graduates of the School of Management’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL) Core program to build upon the success of that program as they take their businesses forward. Business leaders are currently operating in a highly unpredictable environment, and the program focuses on helping participants learn to lead entrepreneurially with support and guidance from their contemporaries. The Strategic Entrepreneurship program provides a professionally facilitated forum for participants to continue to enjoy the unique bond often referred to as the “CEL experience” where fellow classmates act as a personal advisory board and accountability group. Participants develop the skills needed to build value for their businesses and to grow personally and professionally.
The Allstate Minority and Women Emerging Entrepreneurs program is a joint venture by the UB School of Management‘s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership and the UB Center for Urban Studies. The program’s mission is to construct a pathway that enables minority and women entrepreneurs to move their companies to the next stage of development. Creating opportunities for minority and women entrepreneurs to bolster the development of their companies will strengthen the economy of the Buffalo-Niagara region. Since its inception in 2004, more than 130 minority and women entrepreneurs have completed the program. The program is sponsored by the Allstate Foundation, a charitable organization funded by subsidiaries of Allstate Insurance Corporation.
The Henry A. Panasci Jr. Technology Entrepreneurship Competition was created by the UB School of Management and the UB Office of Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach (STOR). It is funded with a $1 million endowment from the late Henry A. Panasci Jr., founder and former CEO of Fay’s Drugs, to facilitate and promote the commercialization of UB-generated technologies. It also was designed to provide a mechanism for bringing students from different disciplines together with students from the School of Management to maximize their business and scientific potential. Over the past eleven years, more than 70 teams have competed. The winners this year received more than $10,000 in start-up capital as well as in-kind awards for business services.
With the knowledge that leadership can directly impact a number of measurable metrics such as quality, revenue, profitability, bench strength and market sharem the program focuses on its participants’ enterprise goals while taking into account their unique strengths, learning styles and communication styles.
This 8-session program is designed to meet the professional development needs of those seeking careers and career advancement in the emerging life sciences industry. It includes a mid-level introduction to the industry and its unique elements, includes topic-based discussion and several subject-matter experts.
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