Hope faded. Depression increased. Instability continued.

But in April 2006, promises of the South Side’s rebirth developed a physical presence when the South Side Innovation Center opened as part of Syracuse University’s South Side Entrepreneurial Connect Project.

‘We brought a new focus to the South Side that hadn’t been there before,’ said Craig Watters, who helped establish the center in its current location at 2610 S. Salina St.

Approaching its fifth year there, the SSIC strives to transform the South Side into a hub for small-business opportunities and to encourage economic development. The center’s dedication to the community — and to its promising entrepreneurs and their business ventures — was recognized this year, when it was nominated for an Incubator of the Year award.

After working with the SSIC, clients will likely bring returns back to the community, whether by creating more businesses or supporting old ones, said Watters, also an assistant professor of entrepreneurial practice at SU. Until that happens, the SSIC accommodates the needs of the entrepreneurs capable of initiating change.

‘When you start a business in the area, the city takes notice,’ Watters said. ‘It’s necessary as a part of an ongoing effort to make Syracuse a place for work, a place for business.’

Margaret Butler, facilities coordinator at the SSIC, said the center was a part of that ongoing effort to revive the area in and around the South Side.

‘The South Side of Syracuse is one of the most depressed parts in the nation,’ she said, ‘not just New York state.’

Joyce Boahene helped relieve some of the area’s depression with her own business, Count It All Joy. Before becoming a client at the SSIC, Boahene spent more than 15 years running her business from home. She sold faith-based books and poetry, which she wrote herself, and the SSIC helped Boahene change what started as a hobby into a job.

She rented office space on the second floor of the SSIC, where she had access to computers and a phone line. She took part in a six-week entrepreneur boot camp at SU’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management to learn about finance, marketing and management. She created a Web presence for her company with a website, blog and Facebook page. All to bring Count It All Joy to the mainstream market. It has since become a limited liability company.

‘That has given me a little bit more exposure now,’ Boahene said. ‘I’m really hoping to pick up some speed with that.’

Count It All Joy would not have been as established or as legitimate of a business without access to the resources at the SSIC, she said. She would not have had the finances to pay for a company license. She would have continued running her business at home, without a real office. She would not have known how to improve her company to appeal to her consumers using the Web.

Bob Herz, director of the SSIC, said clients approach the center with varying problems. Some have an idea and want to turn it into a business; others already have a business and need more ideas.

The SSIC maintains a relationship with its clients using a hands-on approach to assist their business ventures, from discovering an idea to developing a business plan to providing academic services, Herz said.

‘All the way through the process, the counselors are hands-on with the process,’ he said. ‘You’re never on your own.’

Given the SSIC’s ongoing commitment to its 27 resident clients, 300 affiliates and 1,000 people who engage in the center’s services, the full-time staff of six people has a lot of work on its hands. But the staff is what makes the SSIC unique, Herz said, because most incubators have a two-person staff.

In 2006, the SSIC started out like most incubators and opened with only two employees. But the center hired more full-time staff members, as well as part-time workers and volunteers, to accommodate the increasing number of clients.

The dedicated staff is what allows the SSIC’s services to be ‘pretty much unmatched,’ Herz said. Since the center opened, the workers have helped about 4,600 people. Its location has expanded from 1,300 square feet to 13,000 square feet, which allowed for the addition of conference rooms and a second floor to house offices for clients. Computers and overhead projectors have also been updated, among other changes. 

The expansion contributed to the SSIC’s vision of reviving the local economy. Within five years, the center created about 100 new businesses and 63 new jobs, Herz said.

Butler, the facilities coordinator, said these accomplishments convinced the staff to apply for the National Business Incubation Association’s Incubator of the Year award for the general and special focus category.

‘We felt that we really actually had a story to tell at this point,’ Butler said.

The SSIC was one of five incubators that had a story. Tim King, operations manager for international programs at the NBIA, said five incubators worldwide — from Spain, Australia, the United States and India — applied for the award. The SSIC was chosen as one of two nominees for the award, but lost to the Arts Incubator of Kansas City on Tuesday, he said.

King said the panel of judges considers five criteria for the award: business development services, program results, financial stability, best practices and success stories.

For the SSIC, Stacey VanWaldick had one of those success stories.

VanWaldick, a 2008 graduate student in jewelry and metalsmithing at SU, was working on a project — to create jewelry out of anything but metal — when she started experimenting with chocolate jewelry.

After SU officials bought some chocolate rings for an event, VanWaldick saw the potential of chocolate jewelry to become a marketable product. She approached the SSIC to turn her project into a business, Promise Me Chocolate.

The SSIC gave her access to its commercial test kitchen and introduced her to representatives from Nelson Farms. One year later, Nelson Farms invited her to the Fancy Food Show, where she met representatives for Martha Stewart and Oprah Winfrey.

‘It was really the first time that I had put the business out there,’ VanWaldick said.

That first time led to spreads featuring Promise Me Chocolate products in Stewart’s and Winfrey’s magazines, giving the company national exposure. VanWaldick said it would not have been possible without the SSIC, which gave her access to people and resources that would have otherwise been unavailable.

Butler, the facilities coordinator at the SSIC, said the center helps entrepreneurs turn a passion into a business, as was the case with Promise Me Chocolate. The hope is that the passion of the entrepreneurs, in addition to satisfying their own drive and ambition, will make economic contributions to a deprived community.

As the SSIC celebrates its Incubator of the Year nomination and continues to improve its services, the center takes one step closer toward the revival of the South Side.

Hope will grow. Depression will lessen. Stability will resurface.

shkim11@syr.edu

Published on April 12, 2011 at 12:00 pm