LaGuardia Community College will open a design center this winter to help students who want to start a business in the field by giving them entrepreneurship guidance.
The center will teach fundamentals such as business-plan writing and accounting, said Randy Fader-Smith, associate director of public relations at LaGuardia Community College.
“This training will help the entrepreneurs succeed against the odds. The typical failure rate for small businesses is over 50 percent,” said Jane Tabachnick, Director of NY Designs, a business organization which helps emerging designers. This organization will run LaGuardia’s design center. Serving about 10 students per calendar year, the design program will also provide a shared studio space that will enable the participants to work on their business.
One of the students interested in the program is Flor Alva Forero, 27, who specializes in jewelry design. “That would be my dream, to have my own jewelry business,” Forero said, explaining that one day she wants to see a catalogue featuring her products.
The money for the design center, $22,000, was recently donated by Capital One Bank, said Fader-Smith.
“The opening of the new facility is part of Capital One Bank’s ongoing commitment to building the skills of those in our community who have aspirations to own their own small business,” said David Dineen, executive vice president for Capital One in New York and Connecticut.
“LaGuardia is a hotbed of talent and entrepreneurial spirit and therefore, an ideal location for this latest Capital One program,” Dineen explained.
