By Esgardo Castelan

“We have been operating since 2000 helping students from the ground up,” said Executive Clarence Stanley, a former veteran and Director of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Bronx’s office at Lehman. Through its work, 18,025 businesses have received assistance; investment records sum $167,513,506, and at least 6,066 jobs have been created. “Not many people know about us, and we have been here for almost 20 years,” Stanley said.

The SBDC assists students at about 22 campus-based centers and outreach offices across New York state, including CUNY colleges Baruch, LaGuardia, York, Staten Island and Lehman, with the main goal of teaching the fundamentals of owning and maintaining a business.

Funded by the federal government, the SBDC has also branched out to private institutions including Pace University and Stony Brook University, whose students plan to start up a business and may not know where to start.

In partnership with The Small Business Administration (SBA) that allows them to have the funding to help students, about 30 percent of Stanley’s clients are Lehman students who are brought into the program through internships. They then can modify these into businesses or companies, starting with just an idea.

“One of the greatest things that you can do if you want to open a small business will be to get comfortable with tech. In a century where the internet is taking over with everything being connected, the best thing that you can do is make sure you know the fundamentals of a computer,” Stanley said.    

Other services programs offered by SBDC include a loan guarantee program, which grants an amount of loan and requires only paying the difference, and the immigrant entrepreneur program that helps immigrants obtain visas to enter the United States.

Stanley shared success stories from Lehman students and others who made their idea a reality with the help of SBDC. Their stories “can inspire and encourage others to find hope in receiving aid and knowing they aren’t alone, keeping in mind that this is happening in The Bronx, which is considered the poorest borough of New York,” Stanley said.

Rafael Alverez, now president and CEO of an accounting, tax and financial services business, was born in the Dominican Republic and has resided in New York for the last 25 years. After graduating from CUNY’s City College he promoted his business through the website www.atax.com, with the goal of helping clients achieve the American dream by owning businesses.

Sandrine Valentine is another SBDC client who owns a beauty line named Sandrine Beauty. “Sandrine worked in the fragrance industry and specialized in aromatherapy as she believed therapeutic virtues of scent can heal and uplift mind, body and spirit,” said Stanley. He pointed out that the borough “has changed for the better. The unemployment in the Bronx has changed from 14 percent to 6.7 percent.”

But while the SBDC can turn business dreams into realities with their services, not many Lehman students are aware of it.

 “I didn’t know there was a program like that,” said Anton Kyrylenko, a Macaulay Honors Junior.

“Wow, there is a program that can help us with our businesses?” said Raymond Burier, a Lehman junior and business administration major. “This is really useful to know since I plan on opening a business in the future. Therefore, I do believe colleges should offer business consulting.”