Rutgers Research Center Works To Create Wealth In Urban Communities

Sept. 10, 2009 - PRLog -- The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development at Rutgers Business School (CUEED - http://business.rutgers.edu/CUEED) is the first center of its kind in the nation to integrate venture capital and city resources with university research to study and instigate economic development and entrepreneurship.

The center is building upon Rutgers’ historic relationship with the City of Newark and contributing to the city’s revitalization by helping small- and medium-sized companies that are minority-owned and operated.

“We want to create wealth in the urban community,” said CUEED Director dt ogilvie, PhD. “We want people to spend money here, put people in business here, create jobs here. Our model is to transfer business know-how to people trying to make their businesses succeed.”

Paul V. Profeta, a New Jersey-based real estate executive, has made this first initiative a reality by partnering with CUEED to establish a not-for-profit equity fund—the Profeta Urban Investment Foundation at Rutgers Business School.

The fund allows CUEED to help Newark-based companies within a mile of RBS to attract financing to start businesses in sectors such as retail, arts, and entertainment that will employ Newark’s residents and give the city and its people much-needed services and products. “CUEED helped me secure financing at a time when money was scarce,” said entrepreneur John Murray who opened the Coffee Cave, a café near the business school in Newark.

Enabled by its corporate, government, and community partnerships, CUEED launched the Entrepreneurship Pioneers Initiative (EPI). Funded by the North Jersey Partners of WIRED through a grant provided by the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration, EPI is a robust program that equips first generation entrepreneurs with the training and tools needed to help them grow their businesses.

Participants receive extensive training, group and 1-on-1 counseling, networking opportunities, mentoring, and financial guidance. The 50 entrepreneurs have been enthusiastic with the program. “This is exactly what I need right now to get my business going,” said Kermick Santos, who started his business three years ago.

A MBA concentration in entrepreneurship directed by CUEED’s leadership encourages MBA students to generate new sources of enterprise, develop innovative business ideas, and create new jobs. Graduates will have the skills to launch new businesses, or take on business development and other leadership roles at growth-oriented organizations.

“Our deep dive into entrepreneurship combines fostering an entrepreneurial culture wherever you work, whether it be a small firm or large enterprise,” said Susan Gilbert, Executive Director and Associate Dean of the MBA Program. “We want our MBA students to create new sources of wealth, jobs, and revenues in New Jersey and around the world.”

CUEED also created the Rutgers Initiative in Social Entrepreneurship (RISE), a program aimed at empowering budding social entrepreneurs on the Rutgers Newark and New Brunswick campuses and in the surrounding communities. Through various activities, students, faculty, and the community are engaged in learning about and using the social entrepreneurship approach.

“The research-based CUEED is emerging as a national model for how universities operating in urban areas can facilitate economic development to revitalize cities,” said Rutgers Business School Dean Michael R. Cooper, PhD.

Rutgers Business School focuses on delivering the business, science, and technology credentials that global employers demand. With the direction of its world-class research centers like CUEED, Rutgers Business School maintains its standing as a premier business school with a deep commitment to contributing to economic development.

Research

CUEED takes a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach to research by seeking out faculty members at Rutgers and other institutions whose research complements the Center’s focus and by bringing leading scholars to campus for dialogue and collaboration.

To assist policy makers through its research and expertise, CUEED hosts seminars and conferences on urban entrepreneurship, green technology ventures and social entrepreneurship.

The Center’s research focuses on five areas:

Urban Entrepreneurship — job creation, business development, community entrepreneurship

Technology Entrepreneurship — technology transfer, incubators, leveraging university patents, green business

Social Entrepreneurship — social problem-solving, social-purpose business, social investments

International Entrepreneurship — institutions and entrepreneurial activity, SME’s and developing nations

Economic Development – urban institutions and development, economic development and emerging economies

Rutgers Business School - http://business.rutgers.edu
CUEED - http://business.rutgers.edu/CUEED

- Dan Stoll
dstoll@business.rutgers.edu

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Rutgers Business School-Newark and New Brunswick is an integral part of one of the nation’s oldest, largest, and most distinguished institutions of higher learning: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Founded in 1766, Rutgers Business School has been accredited since 1941 by AACSB International–the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business — a distinction that represents the hallmark of excellence in management education. Today, Rutgers Business School is educating more than 4,500 undergraduate and graduate students at two main campuses in New Jersey as well as six satellite locations in New Jersey, China, and Singapore. Rutgers Business School is ranked #10 nationwide for “Most Competitive Students” by The Princeton Review; and is part of the campus that is ranked #1 in diversity nationwide by U.S. News & World Report, for 12 straight years. Full-time MBA and part-time MBA programs give excellent options for people looking to boost their careers.