Small Biz Academy Graduates 30

Ugo Odukwe knows how to create applications for your mobile phone and your tablet, and now he knows how to manage his business’s finances as well.

“The most important thing I learned was the financial planning,” Odukwe said, one of 30 small business owners who graduated from the city’s Small Business Academy during a ceremony at City Hall.

“I learned about how to stay afloat, particularly during bad months, and the difference between just making enough to pay your bills and making a profit,” Odukwe said. ​“You can’t just survive; you’ve got to grow.”

The city is counting on that growth to grow the local economy and create new jobs.

“Small businesses are a vibrant part of our local economy and it’s really important for us to recognize how critically important they are,” Mayor Toni Harp told the graduates at the ceremony this past Friday. ​“Most of the jobs that we’re growing in our economy, we’re growing in small businesses. We know how important you are to all of us. You are more likely to hire from the local workforce. Small business development is good for local residents.”

Jackie James, who oversees the small business academy, said that Friday’s graduating class was the fourth of its kind since the academy opened its doors last year. There were 250 applicants for the spring semester; the academy chose 50 people to participate in the 16-week program, which teaches budding entrepreneurs everything from how to write a business plan to how to access capital.

So far business academy graduates have received $600,000 in small business loans. There are currently 350 people on a waiting list to get into the summer session, James said.

Academy graduate Robert Allen is from the Newhallville neighborhood. He said he thought at first the program was too good to be true. He ended up getting help to achieve his dream of running a successful auto body shop.

“When you have dreams and you’re from there, you don’t know that they can come true,” he said. ​“But this program shows you the proper steps to bring your dreams to reality.”

City economic development chief Matthew Nemerson said getting through the academy was the relatively easy part.

​“Now comes the hard part of actually having a business and making that business successful,” he told the graduates But he reminded the graduates that the city is there to help them be successful. ​“We want you to be successful and we want you to hire other people,” he said.

Shantay and Clarence Scott were the only husband-and-wife team to finish the program together. They are already known for their gospel radio shows on WNHU 88.7 and WESU 88.1. Now they plan to be known as manufacturers of food carts.

“We already own food carts,” Clarence Scott said. ​“Now we’ll be giving other people opportunities to work for themselves.”