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| TEC Logo | |
| Company type | Non-Profit |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1989 |
| Headquarters | 4548 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19139 |
Area served | Philadelphia |
Key people | Della Clark, President |
| Services | Access to Capital Capacity Building Business Education Economic Development |
| Subsidiaries | The Enterprise Center Capital Corporation (2002) The Enterprise Center Community Development Corporation (2001) |
| Website | www.theenterprisecenter.com |
The Enterprise Center, Inc is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1989 by the Wharton Small Business Development Center and located in the Walnut Hill section of West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Enterprise Center’s mission is to better position minority business enterprises to compete in the local, regional, and global economies. The Enterprise Center operates a portfolio of programs and affiliate organizations that fall within four primary tracks: Access to Capital, Capacity Building, Business Education, and Economic Development.
History
editThe Enterprise Center (TEC) was founded in 1989 by the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Small Business Development Center, TEC was founded purely as a business incubator, and throughout the early 90's, provided emerging businesses with only basic infrastructure tools necessary to manage a business such as phone systems, electronic capacity, etc. Throughout the 90’s, however, TEC experienced rapid growth and began to increase services as a business accelerator, aimed at firms with a minimum of $250,000 in yearly revenue. These services include providing access to capital and identifying contract opportunities, all aimed at helping small to mid-sized businesses reach the maturity stage.
Since 2003, much of TEC’s resources have been focused primarily on business acceleration. Through the use of assessment tools and matrices, industry benchmarks, and in-house instruments, TEC identifies the specific development needs required for businesses to reach maturity. TEC then delivers technical assistance in diverse areas ranging from access to loans to accounting workshops to retail visual merchandising assistance. TEC thus seeks to serve as a one-stop resource for both emerging and established businesses. Since 2005, TEC has also greatly expanded its focus on community development, particularly of West Philadelphia's Walnut Hill neighborhood and the surrounding communities. TEC has spearheaded diverse efforts to revitalize the region economically and socially including resident engagement and advocacy programs, initiatives to improve administration of local public schools,large-scale physical redevelopment projects, etc. TEC carries out the above efforts through its network of internal programs and affiliate organizations.
Throughout its history, TEC has owned and occupied the same building at 4548 Market Street in West Philadelphia. The building is historically notable in that it was the original home of American Bandstand, America's first and most influential teen dance show. American Bandstand was aired by WFIL-TV, an ABC Network affiliate and the second oldest station in the nation built specifically for television broadcast. WFIL-TV hosted American Bandstand from the program's inception in 1957 until its departure for Hollywood in 1964. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 28, 1986, with American Bandstand's Studio B and adjacent spaces since maintained by TEC in compliance with historic preservation guidelines.
TEC occupies the same space to this day, continuing to carry out its mission of accelerating minority business enterprises and revitalizing surrounding communities economically and socially.
Access to Capital
editThe Enterprise Center Capital Corporation
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The Enterprise Center Capital Corporation (TEC-CC) offers business financing and technical assistance to businesses within Emerging Markets, including minority- and women-owned business, and those located within urban low-income communities. TEC-CC is a legally distinct 501(c)(3) non-profit but is operated within the TEC family of programs as an affiliate organization.
Financial technical assistance is administered in diverse areas, as the displayed in the diagram. In terms of lending, TEC-CC administers a loan program designed to finance Philadelphia-based minority and women entrepreneurs and low-income and/or urban community based-businesses for growth. Through this loan fund TEC-CC can originate loans at Market rates of interest, through the organization's status as a U.S. Small Business Administration co-lender. TEC-CC is an Equal Opportunity Lender and as such makes loans without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, age, disability, or national origin.
TEC-CC also offers loan packaging services for small business owners at affordable prices. In working with a number of traditional and non-traditional financing entities, TEC-CC has identified the different tolerances in order to properly package a deal emphasizing the necessary content. In addition, TEC-CC is an intermediary for the U.S. Small Business Administration Pre-Qualification Program, through which many businesses have obtained SBA (7)(A) Guaranteed Loans.
Capacity Building
editPennsylvania Minority Business Center
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The Enterprise Center operates the Pennsylvania Minority Business Center (PA-MBC), which is funded through the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency. PA-MBC's mission is to accelerate growth of minority enterprises. TEC has operated the contract since 2004, and in that time has been successful in generating over 300 million in total contracts and financing for its clients in addition to creating nearly 900 jobs.
PA-MBEC is responsible for providing established minority enterprises with direct assistance in the areas of business consulting, access to capital, and access to markets. Through the development of successful strategic alliances with public and private sector partners, PA-MBEC works to advocate on behalf of Pennsylvania’s minority business enterprises, expanding opportunities and making a positive impact on the economic environment of the state. Emphasis is placed on working with businesses that have high growth potential. PA-MBEC’s mission is thus in line with that of TEC, which is to better position minority enterprises to compete in the local, regional and global economies.
Dr. Walter P. Lomax Retail Resource Network
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TEC has also expanded its services to business owners through the establishment of the Dr. Walter P. Lomax Retail Resource Network (TEC-RRN). This program seeks to accelerate the creation of new retail businesses in Philadelphia, while developing the long-term growth and sustainability of existing enterprises. TEC-RRN helps Philadelphia retailers succeed through: individual and group marketing, customized technical assistance; accounting/financial management, access to range of financial resources, visual merchandising, strategic planning, information technology, networking sessions and various educational workshops.
Business Education
editYES (Youth + Entrepreneurship = Success) Program
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The Enterprise Center offers business education opportunities for Philadelphia residents of all ages. TEC trains hundreds of aspiring young entrepreneurs each year through its award-winning youth program, YES (Youth + Entrepreneurship = Success) Program, which features in-school courses, after-school youth incubator and business boot camp.
YES seeks to enable students to achieve the following goals over the course of the curriculum:
- Write a business plan
- Network with established entrepreneurs
- Access start-up capital via Executive Incubator
- Use the internet in TEC's Magic Johnson Foundation/HP Digital Inventor Center
- Receive credit toward graduation
In addition, TEC operates Project THRIVE, an adult-oriented entrepreneurial training program in which participants tap their entrepreneurial potential and develop a framework for starting a venture.
Economic Development
editThe Enterprise Center Community Development Corporation
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Finally, TEC operates The Enterprise Center Community Development Corporation (TEC-CDC), a community-based nonprofit organization in West Philadelphia focusing on community empowerment and economic development. TEC-CDC is a legally distinct 501(c)(3) non-profit but is operated within the TEC family of programs as an affiliate organization.
TEC-CDC's mission is to build neighborhoods where individuals are willing, able, and organized to achieve their common goals. The organization targets primarily Walnut Hill, though its work impacts communities across West Philadelphia. TEC-CDC's work revitalizes high-need communities both socially and economically through diverse programs focusing on themes of employment, education, and engagement. Programs include:
- A ten-member Street Team that conducts door-to-door outreach to connect neighbors to vital social services and promote community involvement.
- Initiatives to engage community resources in 15 local public schools
- Physical development projects to rebuild blighted infrastructure, create jobs, and revitalize the neighborhood
- A broad-based community planning process engaging over 600 residents.
- Large-scale projects to revitalize and build a complete local food economy.
Recently, TEC-CDC has placed particular emphasis on its food economy efforts. Through a 3-year community food access improvement grant from the Philadelphia Urban Food and Fitness Alliance (PUFFA), TEC-CDC oversaw production of student-led documentaries on the local food economy airing in October of 2010, and also assisted in identifying schools for the City's Farm2School Pilot Program.
TEC-CDC also operates the Walnut Hill Growers Cooperative (Co-op) located adjacent to 46th Street Station on the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority's Market-Frankford Line. The Co-op is managed and maintained entirely by community resident growers, and aims to increase community access to fresh and healthy food while providing growers with a source of supplemental income. The Co-op has been featured in a number of local publications including, among others, University City Off the Grid.[1], Philly Homegrown.[2] , Farm to Philly.[3], and Uwishunu.[4].
Finally, TEC-CDC will soon break ground on the Center for Culinary Enterprises (CCE) is a $5.1 million project in which TEC-CDC will transform a long-abandoned building at 310 South 48th Street in West Philadelphia into a 13,000+ square-foot LEED-certified food business incubator and hub of community health and nutrition resources. The CCE’s diverse components will include shared-use commercial kitchens for rent to regional food entrepreneurs, public-access multimedia “eKitchen”, full-service restaurant with youth training program, food retail space, and an urban growers cooperative. TEC-CDC recently completed the CCE’s capital campaign and is set to break ground on the project in summer of 2011. The project has gained significant attention for its scale and innovative approach to food business incubation, and has been featured in such outlets as the Philadelphia Business Journal.[5], Grid Philly.[6], and Flying Kite Media.[7].
TEC-CDC’s food projects seek to overcome chronic food access deficiencies in West Philadelphia. The City was named a "Food Desert Zone" in 2009, one of twenty cities given that designation under U.S. Congress's proposed Food Desert Oasis Act.[8]. In that same year, a Pennsylvania Horticultural Society analysis in the City of Philadelphia's official sustainability plan, Greenworks Philadelphia, found that more than half the City lacks fresh, healthy food access within a 10-minute walk.[9]. TEC-CDC’s food projects also seek to stimulate the local economy by positioning food entrepreneurs to grow their ventures to size and scale, while retaining food dollars spent by community residents within the immediate neighborhoods.
References
edit- ^ The Walnut Hill Community Farm Grower’s Cooperative is Accepting Applications, University City Off the Grid.
- ^ Walnut Hill Community Farm, Philly Homegrown.
- ^ Walnut Hill Community Farm, Farm To Philly.
- ^ Walnut Hill Community Farm Winner of a Competitive Grant, Uwishunu
- ^ Enterprise Center plans culinary incubator in W. Philly, Philadelphia Business Journal
- ^ Bid to Build: The Center for Culinary Enterprises, Grid: Toward a Sustainable Philadelphia
- ^ Culinary incubator sets the table for West Philly's top food entrepreneurs, Flying Kite Media
- ^ H.R.3100 - Food Desert Oasis Act of 2009, Open Congress for the 112th United States Congress
- ^ Greenworks Philadelphia, City of Philadelphia
External links
editThe Enterprise Center, Inc
The Enterprise Center Capital Corporation
Pennsylvania Minority Business Center
Dr. Walter P. Lomax Retail Resource Network
YES (Youth + Entrepreneurship = Success) Program
The Enterprise Center Community Development Corporation
Philadelphia Urban Food and Fitness Alliance
Walnut Hill Growers Cooperative
Center for Culinary Enterprises