From February 2001 CBIA News 

Can’t afford consultants? Look into free help from state’s universities

By Bonnie Kreitler
Free-lance writer in Easton

Your budget might not support the cost of an outside consultant, but that’s no reason your business has to go it alone. Universities throughout the state offer a range of free business consulting services to start-ups and established businesses.

“We feel it’s our mission,” declares Ron Lowy, dean of the Department of Business Administration at Eastern Connecticut State University. Projects universities helped state businesses with last year included:

• business plans

• budgets and financial statements

• start-up funding

• identification of target markets

• evaluation of future demand

• advertising strategies

• forecasting business conditions

• assessment of international sales opportunities

• development of export strategies
  

“We are always happy to help small businesses in any way practical,” says Glenn Bassett, dean of the University of Bridgeport’s School of Business. 
Cooperative programs between universities and businesses help both sides, points out Abbas Nadim, chairman of the Management Department at the University of New Haven and director of the Small Business Institute housed there. “They help the students learn about small business and help small businesses with free advice provided by graduate or undergraduate students with supervision by faculty members.”

If you need help, all you have to do is ask. Some university programs emphasize entrepreneurship and offer help with planning and funding issues. Others stress management and marketing in existing businesses. Businesses typically approach a university through the dean’s office, which assesses the fit among the needs of students, faculty and the business. Student internship and co-op programs, class projects, and one-on-one consultations with faculty are among the university resources businesses can tap. Several universities also house nonprofit organizations dedicated to helping small businesses.

Also available: some services that are not quite free

Faculty members often provide expertise to businesses on a one-on-one basis at fees well below the going market for consultants. Contact individual universities with your request.

Businesses can also join the Quinnipiac University Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management Institute (www.quinnipiac.edu/academics/esbmi/) for a $650 membership fee. This entitles them to up to five hours of one-on-one consulting with the institute’s professionals; discounted rates on Quinnipiac’s non-degree professional business courses; a discounted rate on the institute’s consulting services; and a one-year membership in the Connecticut Venture Group, which helps match entrepreneurs and investors.

Editor’s note: CBIA members receive discounted prices on consulting services available through the association. Call Adam Drummond at 860-244-1900 or e-mail him at drummona@cbia.com. 

Sidebar: 

Help from the halls of ivy

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