Mini MBA Partnership Program Boosts Entrepreneurship

Eighty-two percent of participating businesses reported profitability, while overall they secured $776 million in government, institutional and corporate contracting. These are just two of the noteworthy results* of the Newark Community Economic Development Corporation’s (CEDC) Mini MBA Program.

The seven-month hands-on course provides practical business education, a supportive business network and access to capital and contracting — all of which enable participants to gain the “management know-how and networks needed to think like a CEO, grow revenue, increase jobs and be contract-capable and procurement-ready to do business with Newark’s large companies.” It is supported by City of Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka and the Municipal Council, Newark Department of Economic & Housing Development and NJIT’s Martin Tuchman School of Management (MTSM), and powered by Interise’s Streetwise MBA™ Curriculum with backing by the Prudential Foundation.

“Our involvement is part of MTSM’s mission to engage and impact,” said Michael Ehrlich, associate professor of finance at MTSM and co-director of the New Jersey Innovation Acceleration Center. “We seek to work with regional companies and to support economic development and job creation within Newark and New Jersey.”

MTSM began sponsoring the program last year when it launched, and hosts it in its Leir Conference Room and at the university’s Campus Center. Erhlich serves on the program’s teaching team as a lecturer.

“Partnering with Interise and having key anchor institutions like NJIT to assist with Mayor Ras J. Baraka's vision of building economic development through the lens of the small business has been invaluable to the City of Newark,” remarked Al Qadr Camillo, acting senior vice president of business development and entrepreneurship, Newark CEDC. “The Newark CEDC Mini MBA Program will help the CEOs of small-business enterprises overcome growth barriers and gain access to new opportunities, connecting them with the right resources and results-driven strategies to fuel their growth and build capacity.”

Newark “is such a thriving, diverse, really passionate marketplace, both for business and community. Having a really strong, local, supportive partner like the Prudential Foundation and … very strong anchor partners like NJIT … as well as being able to collaborate with the CEDC … [allows us to drill] down into how do we get these business owners in Newark to be strong, build capacity, compete for contracts and obviously have an opportunity to gain capital,” offered Bernard Johnson, director of programs for Interise. “The end game for us is for these business owners to walk away with a three-year growth plan that they’re going to apply to their business, with a hyper focus on being locally competitive, hiring locally and continuing to collaborate with the local anchors in Newark.”  

The typical participant for the Mini MBA Program is an already successful small regional business that needs assistance to scale up and make a bigger impact. To be eligible to take part, a business must be located in the City of Newark, earn a minimum of $200,000 in annual revenue, have been in operation for at least two years, and employ one other person besides the owner.

NJIT looks forward to continuing the partnership, said Ehrlich, noting that the university’s participation “is an important opportunity for the companies. Many are able to more fully engage with NJIT and to potentially hire NJIT students after the program.”

*2017 national program results, based on 2016 assessment data, collected by Interise