Expectations High For First 35 Small-Biz Grads

After 13 weeks of classes on everything from how to write a business plan to obtaining capital, the first graduates of the city’s Small Business Academy were celebrated at City Hall for staying the course.

The 35 graduates also were reminded at a graduation ceremony Thursday night that the city is counting on them not only to provide goods and services and generate money that stays in the local economy, but also to create jobs.

Graduate Jason Dorsey (pictured) said he’s up to that challenge. His business, Healthy Home & Office LLC., a cleaning business specializing in carpets, upholstery and drapes, had been a dream of his for 15 years. For ten of those years he worked to save up money and purchase equipment. He opened his business, then closed it when he realized he wasn’t ready. Though he had restarted his business before being admitted to the academy, he said he still needed the classes.

“I’m in my third semester at Gateway pursuing a business degree, and I would say in these 13 weeks there was much more practical, useful, step-by-step stuff that I needed in order to open my doors that I got through these classes,” Dorsey said. ​“It’s kind of like comparing someone with just textbook [knowledge] to the actual application.”

A class with attorney Stephen Bellis of the New Haven Bar Association in particular stood out for Dorsey. In the class, Bellis taught students how to apply to form a registered limited liability corporation.

“He walked us through it, step by step, line by line, of how to fill it out,” Dorsey recounted. ​“So I filled it out and two weeks later my company, Healthy Home & Office, became an official LLC in the state of Connecticut.”

Dorsey — who will continue n the academy’s Side Street to Main Street program for businesses looking to grow — is now in talks with another cleaning company that is interested in selling him their contracts, which could mean that he could bring on one or two employees possibly full time.

“It was very productive,” he told the crowd of friends and family that packed the aldermanic chambers at City Hall Thursday. ​“In the beginning I was a bit shaky, but I thought to myself, ​‘If the curriculum is half as good, and half as extensive as Jackie James’s shoe collection, we might be all right.’”

James, an economic development official in the Harp administration, launched the city’s small business center at 200 Orange St. and the small business academy on Dixwell Avenue. In just a year the programs and services have dawn attention statewide.

James, who indeed was wearing a festive pair of silver T‑strapped, peep-toed stilettos Thursday night, said she now has 125 applicants for the new fall academy class. Some of those applicants are from Stamford, Hartford, Branford and other parts of the state.

James ​“has done what people at the state haven’t been able to do,” Mayor Harp said Thursday night, ​“which is getting all those people who are able to provide help to small businesses together in one place to provide it in a city in the way that she has done it.”

Harp impressed upon the graduates how much the city is counting on them to take what they’ve learned and be successful, even if it’s not easy.

“I was married to a person for many years who owned their own business, and I know that it is not an easy thing to do. But you are actually ahead of the game because you’ve learned what you’ve learned from the small business academy,” Harp said.

Harp reminded them that while the city welcomes large-scale employers, it knows ​“that small businesses are the foundation for an economically viable community.

“They already account for nearly half of the private sector jobs there are. It is estimated that between 60 and 80 percent of the new jobs that will be coming in our community will be generated by small businesses and startups so you can see how very important you are to our community.”

Harp pointed out that small businesses are more likely to hire a local workforce and to generate capital that stays within the community. That in turn helps other small business owners thrive and stay afloat.

“We are delighted in New Haven to be a part of the local, comprehensive effort to help small companies get started and flourish here,” she said.

That’s exactly what Tyquan Ford (pictured receiving his certificate) is looking to do — flourish. He said it was worth the extra effort to make it to 13 weeks of classes while simultaneously running Whalley Seafood Takeout & Delivery at 117 Whalley Ave.

“Before I started I was just in business,” he said. ​“I didn’t really know how to run a business.” The courses helped him not only figure out the logistics of running his business, but upgrade his bookkeeping and helped him develop his vision as a business owner.

Now he’s looking at ways to expand into a more traditional restaurant with 10 to 20 seats. He too will join the small business center’s ​“Side Street to Main Street” program. He’s looking for more help to access capital to fund his dream of providing jobs for people who need a second chance. (Read more about Ford and how is business was his second chance, here.)

Ford’s mother Yvette (pictured to his right) said the courses have changed the way her son sees his business and his role in the community. ​“I can see the maturity and the drive to expand his business, not just for himself, but for the community,” she said. ​“His goal really is employing others and expanding so that he can give them a second chance like he got. We thank God for this opportunity.”

Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker told the graduates that they should take all that they’ve learned and pass it on.

“You are the first class to make this investment in your future,” she said. ​“You are a part of New Haven history. Don’t hoard the information that you’ve learned. Give it out.”

Graduate Clementine Johnson (pictured receiving her certificate), the owner of what she hopes will one day be a cupcake truck called Heavenly Icing, gave a little bit of what she learned about marketing away to the friends and family who packed the Board of Alders chambers for the graduation ceremony. She baked and decorated the class cake.

“I’ve been blessed to be in the business academy,” she said. Though she provided a large cake for the graduation, she plans to specialize in cupcakes when she gets her truck up and running. Johnson, an avid baker for more than a decade, said she already has the truck. Now she needs to know how to get the money.

James said the graduates still have two-weeks of post-graduation work to complete , during which their projections and cash flow will be reviewed before they will be able to access capital.

“We want to make sure before you access capital that you understand what you are getting into,” James said.