Many area businesses are here to stay
Firms cite power of collaborating and networking
When billionaire B. Thomas Golisano announced last month he was leaving the state for Florida to avoid higher taxes, and longtime Buffalo business Science First soon followed, a fervent debate erupted in the local business community.
Some wondered whether it was getting too hard to grow a successful business here, while others disputed the claim.
The Buffalo News surveyed several area businesses about succeeding in the face of the current recession and upstate business climate. Each business had different strategies for remaining viable, and all said they planned to stay in Western New York for many years to come.
Most cited the power of collaborating and networking as powerful tools.
EnrG Inc., on Rano Street in the Riverside section of Buffalo, has grown by tapping into international demand for the technology they develop for clean energy systems.
EnrG has clients in Switzerland, Germany, Italy and Norway.
President John Olenick and others founded the company after Tyco reduced its work force in 2003. Rather than relocate to job offers in other cities, they wanted to stay in Buffalo.
Olenick recently hired two engineers, a chemist, and a marketing agent to his team. The average pay of an EnrG employee is over $50,000.
“Instead of following someone else’s vision, we decided to make our own,” Olenick said.
Olenick said he and a company manager spend about 25 percent to 30 percent of their time cutting through red tape to find tax breaks and incentives. He said he wants Albany to increase awareness of opportunities available to small businesses.
Unlike Science First, Olenick has decided to stay put in the area, turning down offers from the “fuel cell corridors” in South Carolina and Ohio. He said his Buffalo connections have become a major asset. “If I had to go somewhere else and replace the network I have, I’m looking at a three-to four-year effort to get the quality and quantity of the names I can now access,“ he said.
Other businesses are taking advantage of state contracts. Renold Ajax in Westfield manufactures gear boxes and couplings for subway systems around the world, including New York City, which is being refurbished with federal stimulus money.
President Thomas Murrer said New York requires a percentage of in-state companies to complete public works projects. Staying in New York gives the company a better chance to land those contracts.
Renold has factories all over the world, including China, South Africa and Manchester, England. Murrer said Western New York’s skilled work force helps keep the company here.
“We’re able to stay competitive because of the flexibility they give us,” he said. “You’re always dealt the hand you have. You have to see how you can benefit from it.”
Tonight, many area businesses will network at Entrepalooza 2009 at the Seneca Niagara Casino. The keynote speaker, Stephen M. R. Covey, author of “The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything” said he believes collaboration and networking are key to Buffalo’s revival.
“You have all these detriments,” Covey said. “This can be the ultimate stimulus.”
Rather than focus on what the region cannot control, Covey said the region must capitalize on what it already has.
“Communities also have brands and reputation that you can work on and build,” he said.
Entrepalooza’s main sponsor, the University of Buffalo’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, holds classes and events throughout the year that try to promote collaboration and growth.
Many CEL alumni participate in events like the recent UB Business Partners Day, or become members of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership.
Andrew Rudnick, president of the partnership, said the group and its nearly 2,500 members continue to try and capitalize on what the region already has. It sponsors events like the Endurance All-Stars event last month, which highlighted area businesses that have been in the area for over 50 years.
In addition, the recently formed Buffalo Niagara 360 helps the under-40, young professional crowd network.
“When there are opportunities, people want to make them work here,” Rudnick said. “We need to recognize that if you do the right stuff and have the right people, you will prevail in spite of the state business climate.”
Cheektowaga’s Applied Science Group has used that recipe to prevail. Paul Buckley, president of the 14-year-old software development company, said the connections made through CEL and other events helped him run his business. ASG collaborates with other area engineering companies to help deliver products to its clients.
Buckley said most of his staff is homegrown and would not want to leave the area if he moved the company.
“If financial growth was the only goal then there are plenty of other places, heck, most other places, more conducive to small businesses than this area,” he said in an email. “But if you factor in other quality of life issues the advantages elsewhere are not as great.”
Despite the current business climate, Buckley said he remains committed to the area.
“The investment in staff training and experience is far too great to consider the cost of restarting elsewhere with new staff,” Buckley said. “If we’re going to continue to succeed, it’s going to be here in the Buffalo area.”
New Era Cap Co. President Peter Augustine said the region needs to look forward in order to grow.
“Overall, Buffalo is not a bad place to do business,” he said in an email. “Buffalo is a city with great history and sometimes people get caught up in that history and focus on where we’ve been rather than where we can go.”
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