Syracuse University’s South Side Innovation Center gets boost from Hewlett-Packard

Syracuse University’s South Side Innovation Center gets boost from Hewlett-Packard July 23, 2007Amy Schmitzaemehrin@syr.edu

Syracuse University’s South Side Innovation Center (SSIC), a local nonprofit microenterprise development organization administered through SU’s Whitman School of Management, is the recipient of an HP Microenterprise Development Grant worth more than $57,000 in technology equipment and cash. The HP technology, combined with support services, business training courses and technical assistance, will provide new and established small businesses in the community with much-needed resources and training.

The SSIC is one of 40 recipients of HP Microenterprise Development Program grants, which provide microenterprise agencies with technology equipment, services and cash to spur entrepreneurship and economic growth in low-income communities.

A microenterprise is a business with five or fewer employees and $35,000 or less in start-up capital that does not have access to the traditional banking sector. Established in 2006, the SSIC is home to nearly 20 such businesses, providing Syracuse-area entrepreneurs with business training and support to improve the economic development in Syracuse’s South Side community. Now the SSIC has the assistance, training and access to capital to use technology to build and grow community businesses.

Recent studies indicate that small businesses are key drivers in Syracuse’s economic development, and the gift in-kind from HP will help small business owners at the SSIC stay abreast with technology and ways of integrating technology into their businesses. HP’s philanthropic community investments combine the power of information technology with creative and effective partnerships to create economic and social value for underserved communities around the world. HP engages in public/private partnerships to invest in underserved communities and help bridge the digital divide.

“The possibilities for entrepreneurs to improve their businesses are multiplied when an organization such as the SSIC can provide technical assistance with accounting software, training on Web-based market research and the tools to launch a website and e-commerce platform,” says Yvonne Hunt, vice president, HP Global Philanthropy.

“Hewlett Packard is an excellent partner for our initiatives on the South Side, and its grant will greatly enhance the development and growth of entrepreneurial ventures at the SSIC,” says Nola Miyasaki, executive director of the Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship in the Whitman School. “With this support, SSIC entrepreneurs will have access to HP’s state-of-the-art equipment, software and training, and will be able to use technology more strategically to grow their businesses.”

More information about HP’s Microenterprise Development Program is available online at http://grants.hp.com/us/programs/micro_index.html.

The SSIC is a 14,000-square-foot, inner-city business incubator designed to foster the creation of new ventures and to help existing businesses grow. The program is part of the larger South Side Entrepreneurial Connect Initiative (SSECP), which seeks to identify and support 100 sustainable ventures over five years, and includes infrastructure building, student and faculty engagement through consulting teams, a micro-credit loan fund, training programs for entrepreneurs, and opportunities for minority purchasing.

For more information or to schedule an interview, contact Amy Mehringer, communications manager for the Whitman School of Management, at (315) 443-3834 or aemehrin@syr.edu.