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| By G. Michael Dobbs Managing Editor SPRINGFIELD Area entrepreneurs now have another resource in order to develop business ideas. Last Wednesday, Mayor Charles Ryan joined Western New England College (WNEC) President Dr. Anthony Caprio at the first open house of the Western New England College Law and Business Center for Advanced Entrepreneurship at the Scibelli Enterprise Center on the campus of Springfield Technical Community College. According to a study released by the U.S. Small Business Administration's office of Advocacy and the Edward Low Foundation, Springfield is the nation's third most entrepreneurial region. The study ranked a total of 394 regions according to entrepreneurial and innovation activities. The WNEC Center has been in operation since September 2005 and it has been offering business plan development, legal guidance and advice, strategic marketing plan development and includes a legal and business resource center. Aimee Griffin Munnings, the Center's director, explained that the Center's services complement the business incubator activities at the Scibelli Enterprise Center in two ways by providing legal advice to beginning business people and by supplying the help provided by the College's graduate business students. Munnings knows about business development first-hand. She is a 2003 graduate of the WNEC School of Law and is the founder and executive director of the New England Black Chamber of Commerce as well as the CEO of Zoway Business Management Services. Munnings said the WNEC Center has been busy since it arrived at the Scibelli Enterprise Center. She said the day the phone was installed, it rang with people asking questions. Prior to the open house, she said the Center had conducted a workshop on intellectual property issues. She added that having a resource for legal advice fills a "huge void" for start-up businesses, although she said that it is not the intent of the Center to take business away from area attorneys. She said the Center is now working on guidelines to address how in-depth the legal advice can go. Munnings said the Center's services are open to people throughout western Massachusetts and northern Connecticut. The center will be hosting a number of events in the next few months: On Feb. 9 at 5:30 p.m. Lisa Fairfax will speak on "Achieving the Double Bottom Line: A Framework for Corporation seeking to deliver Profits and Public Services. On March 7 at 5:30 p.m. Douglas Moll will speak on "Oppression of LLC Members." On March 24 there will be a conference on "Current Issues in Community Economic Development," and on April 25 at 5:30 p.m. Laura Gordon, CPA, will speak on "Building Business from a Base of Strength." The center is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information, contact Munnings at 736-8462, or long onto its website at www.law.wnec.edu/lawandbusiness. |