Page 50 - 914INC - July/August 2022

President and CEO Michael Romita of the Westchester County Association (WCA) speaks to participants at the 2022 WCA Real Estate Conference in May.
READY TO LAUNCH?
Westchester-based entrepreneurs have numerous resources at their disposal when they are ready to take their ideas to the next level. Here are a few of the organizations willing to help and guide you along the path to startup success.
BioInc@NYMC
bioincny.com
Business Council of Westchester
thebcw.org
The Catalyst: Westchester County Office of Economic Development westchestercatalyst.com
Element 46
element46.org
Hynes Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (Iona College) iona.edu/academics/schools-institutes/ hynes-institute-entrepreneurship-innovation
Ossining Innovates!
ossininginnovates.com
SCORE Westchester
westchester.score.org
Westchester County Association
westchester.org
Westchester County Biosciences Accelerator
wcbaccelerator.com
BioInc@NYMC, a LEED-certified biotechnology incubator at New York Medical College in Valhalla that was launched in 2014, expanded with 10,000 additional square feet of space in 2019 and offers wet and dry lab space to a variety of startups. Sapience Therapeutics, one of its residents, received a federal Small Business Innovation and Research Grant in 2021 for therapeutics it developed for use in oncology.
Ossining Innovates!, an organization that aims to empower small and midsize communities through entrepreneurship, has been run- ning the Inclusive Innovation Accelerator since 2020. The incubator teaches entrepreneurial thinking, how to validate ideas, pitching and other skills, and offers weekly classes, as well as group men- tor meetings. Applicants interviewed for its fourth cohort this past spring, and the latest session was slated to begin on April 28.
Meanwhile, colleges and universities in the area are embracing entrepreneurship education. The Professional Development Center at SUNY Westchester Community College, for instance, offers a cur- riculum to counsel entrepreneurs, business owners and their em- ployees. Iona’s Hynes Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation offers an undergraduate minor, majors in both entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial leadership, and a graduate certificate.
The Hynes Institute was selected by Syracuse University’s Institute for Veteran & Military Families to support its $5 million Community Navigator Pilot Program, funded by the SBA. The new program provides free services to the veteran entrepreneurship com- munity in New York State and the National Capital Region in areas such as entrepreneurship education and technical assistance.
For many entrepreneurs, Westchester remains the ideal place for starting and nurturing businesses that grow way beyond its borders. Irvington resident Scott Krady started his content agency, Magnitude Inc., in 2019, taking it full-time in 2021. The business, which mostly serves finance and technology companies, has now grown to five full-time team members and more than $1 million in annual reve- nue. “We’re thrilled at the growth right now,” says Krady. “Our cli- ents are all over the world.”
Elaine Pofeldt is the author of Tiny Business, Big Money, and The Million- Dollar, One-Person Business and a frequent contributor to 914INC.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF WCA