Michael Ehrlich

LeShannon Wright was stunned. She had just learned that she placed first in the 2019 New Business Model Competition (NBMC), a contest sponsored by the New Jersey Acceleration Center at NJIT — this after making her first pitch for a business concept she had never talked about publicly before. “I just basically spoke from the heart and … modeled [my story] after what I experienced. From there the first question was why would you be the best person to run this type of business. … That’s when the emotion came out, that’s when the truth came out,” said Wright, adding that she was shaking from...

Saint Barnabas Medical Center (SBMC) in Livingston, N.J., is no stranger to accolades. Among other notable rankings, the acute-care teaching hospital has received 16 A ratings in a row from the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, and is one of less than 41 hospitals in the country to achieve this consistency. The hospital was seeking to further improve its delivery of patient care by reducing emergency department (ED) delays. Upon learning of this objective as an invited guest at an SBMC leadership meeting, NJIT knew it could help and offered to apply the collective know-how of its Martin...

Entrepreneurs looking to develop their startup businesses are invited to a free Lean Startup Jumpstart Seminar. The introductory training workshop will be held April 10 at Seton Hall, April 17 at Stevens Institute of Technology, May 1 at NJIT and May 8 at New Jersey City University. “The Lean Startup provides a scientific approach to creating and managing startups and [getting] a desired product to customers’ hands faster,” notes the event’s website. “The Lean Startup method teaches entrepreneurs how to drive a startup, how to steer, when to turn, and when to persevere ― and grow a...

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-...