FEATURES

     Have you ever dreamed of running your own business, but you just didn't know where to start? Do you have a small business already, but are so busy filling current orders, you haven't time to plan for expansion?
    Now Capital District entrepreneurs have a place to go for answers to their questions -- the University at Albany Small Business Development Center. Located at 1 Pinnacle Place in Albany, the center may be contacted at 453-9567.
    “The University is helping to provide a great service to the community,” said William Brigham, director of the SBDC. “It makes the University an integral part of economic development and a good neighbor.”
    The center works with approximately 800-850 businesses a year, providing startup assistance, helping businesses that are in trouble, looking to expand, and/or looking for direction in terms of funding and planning. It has assisted more than 6,400 entrepreneurs over the last 10 years. According to center statistics, it has generated $54 million in local economic investment and saved or created 2,164 jobs.
    The center works with businesses in all areas, from women's clothing to aerospace, from arts to textiles. It works with businesses as far north as Lake Placid, west to Fulton and Montgomery counties, and south into the Catskills. There is no cost for the service.
    The center works under Small Business Administration guidelines, which define a small business as 500 or fewer employees. It does not work with non-profits. The SBA tries to develop businesses that will develop a tax base, which pays for the program itself. 
    In 1984, UAlbany became one of the original five universities to establish a Small Business Development Center (SBDC) economic development component within its region. The center is funded by UAlbany, the Small Business Administration, and New York State.
    There are 23 centers throughout the state, with the central office on State Street in Albany. The number of jobs created or saved, and the economic impact of those jobs, are well documented by the central office. “Entrepreneurship is growing as people become more educated about it. Any job we create here is wonderful because of the contribution to the community,” Brigham said.
    Typically, people use the center for two months on average. Some come back after a year or two with another project or concern. However, the center does not do everything for a business or entrepreneur. According to Brigham, what they try to do is help business owners to really understand what they are getting into and figure out the best way to handle the situations in front of them. “We need people to realize that what they are doing will take some time and effort on their part,” Brigham said. “I admire those who come here with the drive and ambition it takes to strike out on their own.” 
    Most of the people who come to the center have full-time jobs as well, so the center's work is very client-driven. “Too many people do not know what a small business development center is and that is unfortunate. We have resources that are not matched anywhere. There are other organizations that offer business assistance but they are not as comprehensive and tailored to the needs of the clients,” Brigham said.
    Some of the services provided by the center include business plan development, accounting, export assistance, marketing, financial planning, cost-analysis, training programs, and loan information assistance. The center also has its own business planning guide as well as access to four business librarians on staff at the central office who use the business databases.
    One of the small businesses the center has helped is Pinebush Technologies. Originally an engineering firm, the company wanted to broaden its sales and marketing efforts as it began to branch out into new product lines. “They showed us ways to introduce our software in industries other than those we had been dealing with,” said David Kass (B.S. ’81), president of the firm.
    The reasons people become entrepreneurs are as varied as the people themselves. Some make the decision because they want to have more control over their fate. Mike Camoin, owner and founder of Videos for Change Productions, started his business in 1995 partly because of one of his documentaries. The subject of the documentary, called Inside the Blue Line, was an aging Adirondack woodsman named Jack Ludley. A retired plumber, Ludley made a decision to pursue an entirely new career direction. He is now a renowned basket maker. “He did this demonstration with a ruler in which he opened it up and said, ‘The average age of a man is 72 years, and I'm right here at age 65. I've lived all this and I've got maybe six or seven inches left.’ He then folded the ruler and said, ‘I don't have any time to waste.’” They have now made a one-minute piece called The Ruler of Life.
    “At that time, I was in my late 20s. I'm now 33,” Camoin said. “The lesson of the Ruler of Life is that 36 is middle-aged. I was approaching that number and I figured I should start now if I really want to do this,” Camoin said. He went to the center because he needed to create a business plan for a loan application.
    The center also has a Self Employment Assistance Program that is run with the Department of Labor. It is for people enrolled in unemployment who want to open a new business. While they are starting that business, their benefits are not at risk. There are approximately 200 clients in this three-year old program. The center will soon start a veterans' assistance program for veterans who want to go into business for themselves.
    The SBDC is working on offering UAlbany students internships with some of its client companies. Brigham said he would also like to see some of the undergraduates work in teams with a company for a specific project. “Students have great insights and fresh ideas for these companies.  There is so much they can offer.”
    Brigham says he has seen the business climate in this area change over the past five years or so as it becomes less regulatory and more business friendly. “Software is doing quite well in this area and I think there is a lot to grow on. There is a strong cluster that has developed locally” he said. 
    The center works with the Center for Advanced Technology (CAT), both at UAlbany and RPI. “They develop a product and we help to market that product once it is developed. You can't have one without the other,” Brigham said. “I think there is huge potential in this area and it is driven by the universities. They have helped to enhance the environment both socially and economically so that when people come here they will want to stay.”

   Lecture Center #6 was formally dedicated and renamed in honor of alumnus Gary Jacobson, B.A. '82, during a ceremony on Friday, Oct. 29.
    Jacobson was one of the top securities analysts on Wall Street for 15 years, specializing in consumer, toy and gaming stocks.
    While at Albany, Jacobson was a rhetoric and communications major. He has made a significant gift toward the library campaign. He has also accepted the role of national chair of the University at Albany's President's Club, which is made up of donors who contribute $1,000 or more annually.
    “I had no idea about a career when I left Albany,” Jacobson said.
   “I enrolled at Pace University to earn my M.B.A. and worked at a deli to make ends meet. After that, I moved into a building in Brooklyn. A guy down the hall from me suggested that I interview with a now-defunct brokerage house.”
    Jacobson landed the job, working for a securities analyst specializing in studying toy companies. In his first job, he correctly predicted Coleco would be a great success - at the height of the Cabbage Patch Kids craze in the mid 1980s - and later predicted its demise. 
    In 1988, when Blockbuster Entertainment consisted of only 18 stores, Jacobson spotted the firm as a good investment. Now Blockbuster has 6,500 stores in the U.S. and 26 other countries. He has studied hundreds of other companies, including Hasbro, Brunswick, Nike, Activision, Topps, Marvel and Toys-R-Us.
    In 1997, Jacobson was named by The Wall Street Journal as its top-rated “All-Star” analyst in the entertainment industry. 
    More recently, Jacobson was a managing director at Jefferies & Company. Ready for a change of pace, he left that job last year, and has been traveling and exploring other career options.
    “I woke up one morning very unhappy with the rat race on Wall Street and quit,” he said. “It was just too demanding. I was working six days a week, 14 hours a day, and on the road at least half of the time. The phone never stopped ringing. I had been to the Far East three times and Europe 25 times. I have several million frequent flyer miles I'm still working through.”
    Jacobson, a native of East Brunswick, N.J., remembers his time at Albany fondly. “I had never been away on my own before, so it was very exciting. It was the entire Albany experience, not just the academic experience, and it was very helpful to me as I went on in my career,” he said.

    Each afternoon, you and thousands of other UAlbany students, faculty, and staff ask the eternal question: “Where can I have lunch today?” You've had enough of sandwiches, burgers, fries, and pizza. You're in the mood for a meal with plenty of variety, but you haven't the time to leave campus, and you don't want to stand in line at the cafeteria. What's the answer to this age-old dilemma? The Patroon Room.
   Or, to be more precise, the new Patroon Room. In an effort to attract more customers to the dining venue on the second floor of the Campus Center, Sodexho Marriott Services — the University's food service provider — instituted breakfast and lunch buffets this fall.
    According to Deming Yaun of Sodexho Marriott, the changes in menu and service were prompted by a campus-wide survey last spring. Table service, he observes, “took people a little more time than they had in their schedules. We wanted to create a more relaxed setting than a cafeteria and offer a wider variety of menu choices. It became the goal of our general manager, Rafael Aponte, to transform the Patroon Room into a place students, administrators, and faculty could all use and enjoy.” 
    To that end, Aponte and University Auxiliary Services Executive Director Julia Filippone, Ed.D., re-evaluated the restaurant's physical surroundings, its service, and its food. Walls were repainted, and carpeting and upholstery were cleaned. Brightly colored silk floral arrangements now blossom on tables throughout the room. The buffet concept, which Filippone likens to what the diner would see “in a Marriott hotel,” was introduced. UAS staff who formerly worked as servers were reassigned to other food-service positions around campus. 
    And, of course, Aponte spiced up the main attraction: the menu. Each day's offerings include five or six hot entrees — chicken, beef, and other meats — as well as vegetarian offerings; pasta or rice; and other side dishes. A dessert table rounds out the meal; Filippone urges diners to “leave room” for such favorites as chocolate, carrot, and cheese cakes; and fresh berries, pumpkin pie, and other seasonal items. Soda and coffee are included in the $6.50 per person price, which entitles the customer to “as many trips to the buffet as he or she would like,” Filippone adds. 
    The 18-day menu cycle, Yaun explains, means that “it takes a while for the same dishes to repeat.” Cold cuts, tuna fish, and other sandwich fixin's, however, are daily staples, as is the salad bar. Through their responses to the survey, customers themselves actually had a hand in planning the menu. And their input remains important; Yaun takes time during lunch to visit diners at their tables and solicit comments about the quality and variety of the food. He comments: “Food is like fashion; it's continuously changing. What's popular and satisfying this year is not going to be popular and satisfying next year, whether it's service style or the items served.”
    Currently, the Patroon Room plays host to about 85 lunch customers weekdays between 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. The daily breakfast buffet, instituted in September in an effort to “attract people on their way to the office and encourage them to hold early-morning meetings in the Patroon Room,” is also building a clientele, notes Filippone. Like the lunch, it emphasizes variety: Among the menu selections served from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. are French toast, pancakes, eggs, ham, and sausage. Made-to-order omelettes are occasionally on the bill of fare, as well. The price, $3.50 per person, includes an assortment of specialty coffees and other beverages.
    For diners who prefer a more private setting, a small room off the main dining area may be reserved for luncheons, meetings, and other gatherings. Anyone interested in reserving the space, which accommodates up to 25 people, may do so by calling 442-5985.
    Filippone, Yaun and Aponte are looking into other ways to make the Patroon Room more of a center of campus activity. One possibility under discussion: a cabaret evening that would feature entertainment and dinner. And the monthly Patroon Room dinner, a once-popular event that was discontinued because of parking difficulties, may make a reappearance. 
    Says Filippone, “We want to find new ways to attract customers and to meet the casual dining needs of students, faculty, and staff.”