The U.S. Small Business Administration in Syracuse offers a free program to help local business owners grow their companies. The SBA wants 15-20 new participants for the program this year.
The production facility for Recess Coffee in Syracuse is where all the roasting, baking, cold brew and administrative needs take place. Co-owner Jesse Daino said participating in the Emerging Leaders program helped them buy the facility.
“That was a goal Adam (Williams) and I had when we first started renting this place," Daino said. "We had no idea the timeline for it, how we would go about it necessarily. The Emerging Leaders helped us come up with those timelines.”
So far, 125 local businesses have gone through the program including the events venue Sky Armory, Liehs and Steigerwald Deli, Lakeside Innovative Technologies and Rudy Schmid body shop.
SBA district Director Bernard Paprocki said the program delves into all different aspects of running a business to help companies advance to the next level.
“It offers the entrepreneur or the business owner, a chance to get outside of their business, and look at it from a whole different perspective than running it on a daily business," Paprocki said. "Get away; the idea is working on your business and not in your business.”
CEO's of companies between $400,000 and $10 million in revenue can submit a letter of interest this month.