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Small Business Briefs
Bridgeport Gets Minority-Owned Bank
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Business New Haven
4/3/2000
By: BNH
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A new minority-owned bank known as the Community's Bank will be headquartered in Bridgeport.
Headed by investment banker Peter F. Hurst Jr., founder and president of Urban Financial Group, the Community's Bank has entered into an agreement with Fleet Boston Financial Corp. to acquire three branches with an aggregate $88 million in deposits. Besides the Bridgeport headquarters at 2574 East Main Street, it will have branches in Hartford and Bloomfield.
Aiming to serve the small-business and consumer market segments, the Community's Bank intends to set up a small-business investment company (SBIC) to finance the needs of urban businesses.
Hurst said he expects the new bank to have completed its regulatory review and be open by July 1. Customers who bank at the present Fleet branch on East Main Street can expect to see the same faces after the changeover, Hurst said.
He also stressed that deposits made in urban areas will be lent in those same areas, helping to finance businesses and homes in under-served areas.
Hurst had been looking for an opportunity to launch a bank in an under-served area of Newark, N.J., but was lured to Bridgeport last September for the Bridgeport Regional Business Council's “Red Carpet Day,” during which business executives from Connecticut, New York and New Jersey were introduced to opportunities in the Park City.
That opportunity became more tangible after Fleet Bank announced its merger with BankBoston. In approving the deal, state banking regulators required that some Fleet and/or BankBoston branches be sold to third parties, opening the door for the creation of the Community's Bank.
Outside-the-Box U.
HAMDEN - Quinnipiac College on March 21 announced the establishment of the state's first Entrepreneurship & Small-Business Management Institute (ESBMI).
The mission of ESBMI - the only program of its kind between Boston and New York - will be to expand QC School of Business programs in entrepreneurship, as well as to enhance the college's reputation as an active participant in regional economic development.
“In today's business environment, one of the few opportunities still available for personal wealth and career fulfillment comes from starting a business, being part of an emerging business or participating in an entrepreneurial venture in a mature corporation,” says Quinnipiac President John L. Lahey.
Matthew Smith of Stamford is working with School of Business faculty to launch the new program. He says ESBMI staff will work with venture capitalists to help students develop entrepreneurial approaches to business.
“We will help students learn how to be open to change, develop new ideas and think outside of the box and beyond the limitation of existing paradigms,” Smith says. “This blend of tools, skills and attitude will equip our graduates with the knowledge to organize and manage new ventures.”
ESBMI students will be taught by faculty who have founded and managed companies of every type and size, and by entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, accountants, consultants and lawyers who will present case studies and offer life-long guidance. Students will also be partnered with entrepreneurs who will serve as mentors.
Milford Buyers Club Owner Must Repay Customers
MILFORD - The former head of a defunct buyers club with a Milford showroom has agreed to repay back more than $80,000 to customers who never received merchandise they ordered.
Preferred Consumer Network International and its predecessor, United Buyer's Service, were shopping clubs that sold $1,000 to $2,399 memberships for between $1,000 and $2,400 that purportedly would make members eligible for discounts on household items, furniture and other products.
However, after state officials received more than 150 complaints about the companies from customers, state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal filed an injunction against the company, which forced it out of business in 1998.
Preferred Consumer Network “encouraged people to continue purchasing merchandise after it knew that it couldn't deliver,” said Blumenthal, “and that kind of abuse constitutes a striking example of anti-consumer and illegal practices.”
John Folger purchased the company in 1997. PCNI had showrooms in Milford and East Hartford as well as an office in Hartford.
Criminal charges were brought against Folger in 1998 after several employees said they did not receive wages. Last October he was granted accelerated rehabilitation.
A $140,333 settlement in the case includes $81,154 for the consumer refunds. Folger in December made $59,179 in wage payments to Blumenthal's office, and he has agreed to make the consumer refund payments through September.
Folger is now prohibited from operating shopping clubs in Connecticut. If he makes full restitution and abides by all other terms of the settlement, his probation will end in October 2001.
Fortune, Family Top Goals List
Small and mid-sized business owners and executives say their two top goals are to attain personal wealth and make time for family and personal wealth, according to a new survey by the George S. May International Co.
Asked how they planned to achieve these seemingly irreconcilable goals, nearly 70 percent of respondents said they have taken or are taking steps to establish quantifiable business plans. These include: more aggressive marketing to expand customer bases; linking annual goals to a long-term plan; and implementing time-saving procedures.
“American business decision-makers are consciously saying they want and know how to have their cake and eat it, too,” says May P resident Donald Fletcher. “Before this current age of telecommuting and 'mommy tracks,' you had to choose between fortune and family. Now, t is possible to achieve a work/life balance. But it requires planning.”
According to Fletcher, 64 percent of survey respondents say “the ideal work environment they are planning is one that provides the stimulus for innovation or allows creating new ways of bring productive. They also plan to make an environment that is fun - allowing time for family and personal enrichment.
“It follows that if you are able to work effectively and efficiently, then you have more time for a quality home life,” says Fletcher.
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