Fordham’s small-business incubator opens in the Bronx

Areas of Study , Entrepreneurship , Faculty Stories | Oct 17, 2012 | Nicole Gesualdo

Dean Rapaccioli with Mayor Bloomberg and other officials at the ribbon-cutting for Fordham’s new business incubator.

(Adapted from a longer story written by Patrick Verel for www.fordham.edu)

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg joined Dean Donna Rapaccioli to launch a state-of-the-art facility that houses the Gabelli School’s new small-business incubator: the Fordham Foundry.

The Foundry, led by business professors Christine Janssen-Selvadurai and Mitch Fillet, is poised to become a centerpiece of the Gabelli School’s fast-growing entrepreneurship program. It offers a collaborative space where Fordham students, alumni, parents, faculty and staff, as well as other Bronx residents, can launch ventures and access city support for entrepreneurs.

The 30,000-square-foot facility that contains the Foundry is a partnership between Fordham’s Center for Entrepreneurship and the city’s Department of Small Business Services. It brings together three elements in a single location: a branch of NYC Business Solutions services, a Workforce1 Career Center for job-seekers, and the Foundry itself.

Where is it? Right across Fordham Road, at the intersection of Webster Avenue.

The Bronx has long lagged behind other boroughs in economic well-being and reputation for entrepreneurship and growth, but the Fordham Foundry is in a position to change that, driven by the ideas and energy of Gabelli School students.

“We teach students that business has to be about more than making a profit,” Dean Rapaccioli said in her speech at the Foundry’s official opening. “We ask our students to think about how, and to come up with their own answers. We hope that, through the Gabelli School of Business curriculum, the answer they will discover is that business can — and should — change society and their own community for the better.”

“The Fordham Foundry has a world of potential to showcase this principle in action,” she continued. “Our focus is on creating and growing small business in the Bronx, on helping entrepreneurs who live here and who are dedicated to helping the Bronx.”

For more information about the Foundry, including how to join the incubator as an entrepreneur, visit fordhamfoundry.org.