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Syndicate (News Feeds): Atom | RSS 2.0This week—Monday morning early—found an anemic snowstorm and a robust forum coinciding in Midtown Manhattan at the new and innovative Hearst Tower (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearst_Tower_(New_York_City)). The weather was cold but the forum was hot. The omnium-gatherum conceit was to discuss ICT (Information & Communication Technology) as a “rebuilt” business engine of the New York City commonweal. The forum was open to all and sundry. Thus, the opines and the obvious and the outré caromed off the bloviating bumpers of moderators, panel and very-involved audience via on-going Q&A. Subtitled “Its Emerging Shape, Impact and Future Directions,” this initial effort is to be the first of a series of planned confabs to examine “Silicon Alley 2.0” and similar ICT-centered nodes of the City. These fora are a joint effort of The Partnership for New York City—a economic development collaboration of major NYC corporations and players (think David Rockefeller)—and Polytechnic University. [Poly—of course—is my primary partner in my GrowthRoots Social Enterprise program. And, the premier engineering and research institution in NYC. And, 2nd oldest private engineer school in the US.] Sure, micro-enterprisers, these are large organizations. BUT! this kind of NYC ICT activity is VERY important to you. Regardless of the business you’re in or your “depth” in the ultra-urban Outer Boroughs, this ICT commercial trend and broadening business vector will offer you new opportunities—from clients and customers to tools to find, serve and delight them. Here are some of my reporter-on-the-scene notes for your New Brooklyn small business and micro-enterprise uses [click on the blue title link]…
Saturday’s New York Times offered up some very confirming and enlightening statistics (from Fortune Small Business; http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fsb/) in its Biz Section’s “WHAT’S OFFLINE,” by Paul B.Brown (http://www.nytimes.com).
Seems that we’re all doing it---creating micro-enterprises, that is. Or, as the NYT titles it: “C.E.O D.I.Y.” And, though the article doesn’t say so, one of the primary reasons is the average person’s access to cheap empowerment---ICT (Information & Communication Technology). Same reason New Brooklyn is becoming a hot bed for small business start-ups and micro-enterprise launches. Because Brooklyn is still a venue of immigrants, I particularly like this pull quote: “Recent immigrants started 25 percent more businesses per capita than native-born citizens did last year.”
Click on this post’s blue title to see the rest of the national stats in the article segment I quote below…
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BTW: Been “away” for two weeks. No: I didn’t get hit by an MTA bus! It’s just that my non-cyber world is very very full. I’ve had a great deal to talk about BUT no time to do so with you here. Mea culpa! Most of my attention these days is going to my “ICT in the grassroots” program, GrowthRoots. We’ve made some very significant progress in the last few weeks in bringing this innovative, ultra-urban economic development Social Enterprise to life. New partners, new Webware, new impetus. Entrepreneuring---especially Common-Good Capitalism---focuses the commercially creative mind. Just as this NYT article confirms. Everyone is doing ICT-enabled business. And, most often from the kitchen table or garage…
Often, the very organizations that need to leverage ICT (Information & Communication Technology) more do so less. This seems especially true when it comes to nonprofits. Many of these organizations could better serve their communities by extending their always too-limited organizational resources. How? via clever use of ICT in-house. I’m thinking specifically of nonprofit Economic Development Organizations (EDOs)—like our 105 EDOs in Brooklyn who typically serve small businesses in one fashion or another. Most of these important organizations do NOT make appropriate use of today’s extremely powerful ICT. Either in-house—to super-charge service support; or, externally—to boost their constituents in their employment of enabling ICT. So—before mentoring their communities, constituents and/or clients in how best to use ICT—EDOs must employ ICT successfully themselves. From my personal experience with the largest and most influential EDOs in Brooklyn, a good start would be to assess their current, in-house ICT engagement first. From self-assessment can come EDO knowledge of what is needed to begin a program of internally implementing ICT for success…their own ICT achievements will guide their constituents, of course. Read on about an ICT self-assessment tool I created for one major Brooklyn EDO…
Could it be as long as a year of occasional blog posts about my “imminent” subscription to home delivery and integrated Web access to the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Now, Dear Reader, I’ve ACTUALLY done it. Today. I’ve subscribed to the full panoply of cellulose and cyber from the two national newspapers. Both hometown rags, ironically enough. Every morning for 30 years, I’ve dutifully stopped at my local Brooklyn newspaper stand or deli and purchased a copy. Now, what will I do for the social interaction? Regardless, the ICT (Information & Communication Technology) attributes of these new style subscriptions already promise to make it ALL worthwhile. Looks to me like my admonitions to you, New Brooklyn Small Businesses & Micro-Enterprises, to at least get the online versions of these pubs should have been more compelling. The online portions of my subscriptions are going to save me much time…the most expensive resource in business.
Polytechnic University’s well-known visionary George Bugliarello has switched his focus from the grand (MetroTech) to the granular (BodegaTech). He is tackling the complex entrepreneurial needs of inner-city micro-retailers for appropriate, cost-effective and empowering ICT (Information & Communication Technology). Dr. Bugliarello believes—as I do—that ICT is THE key factor in enhancing the overall business operations (and thus profitability) of the typical ultra-urban micro-retailer. I’ll go George one further: not only is ICT key, BUT I feel—under certain projected, Brooklyn-business scenarios—that business-boosting ICT equipment, systems and services can be had for little or nothing. AND, in addition, Brooklyn small business and micro-enterprise so favored may realize significant revenue streams by helping to deliver ICT-driven services—provided by various “sponsors” and/or “partners”—to their customers, clients and end-users. Poly’s George Bugliarello has done some marvelous and important field research and reporting on early BodegaTech possibilities. Read on for still more educated suppositions about this transformative ICT space among New Brooklyn’s “bodegas”…
I still am finding additional nuggets in the Macworld Conference & Expo I attended in San Francisco. I believe Apple and its doings foretell the ICT (Information & Communication Technology) future for New Brooklyn small business. Way out West during the week of 8 January, two major technology trade events of importance to the Borough’s micro-enterprise took place simultaneously. The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas—2,400 exhibitors and 140,000 attendees—was a gigantic tradeshow about mostly home electronics in a vast “living-room” of multiple exhibit halls. Macworld—the conference and expo for All-Things-Apple in San Francisco: 400 exhibitors and 40,000 attendees—was more like a cult gathering in a troll’s cavern (the Moscone Center venue is underground). Apple folk feel like the zealous tribe who once attended Grateful Dead concerts—and look just as varied and hip (as I’ve already commented). And, “All-Things-Apple” now includes a vast quantity of ICT that Brooklyn small business and micro-enterprises can profitably apply in the communities and neighborhoods of our Borough.
The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce (BCoC) is the largest and most active Chamber in the New York region. (Yes, that includes Manhattan’s Chamber!) Still, no membership-focused, economic development affiliation group can stand still. Like a shark (which must have oxygenated water passing continually through its primitive gills), a Chamber must keep moving—and acquiring new members—or it will die. BCoC is my favorite Brooklyn Economic Development Organization (EDO). The Chamber is small business-focused and I’m an avid and active member. (Small business and micro-enterprise of Brooklyn—or anywhere in the region, really—come join BCoC: New Brooklyn is THE marketplace of OUR moment!) Mark Kessler, Interim President and (permanent) COO, is also an ICT (Information & Communication Technology) believer and a booster for its deep integration in small business. Here’s what BCoC is doing to find, recruit and retain you…
On Monday, Dan Wiley—Community Coordinator & District Office Manager for Southwest Brooklyn in Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez’s 12th District—told me that Nydia had already introduced a bill addressing ICT (Information & Communication Technology) for the telecom underserved. I assume this bill will also apply to the needs of small business. The Universal Service Fund are taxes paid by all users of telecom services. The proceeds are typically used to assure minimum telecom services for the have-nots and the distant rural. Today, Dan provided me with some reportage on H.R. 42 and I down-loaded the text of the bill itself from a provided link. As a small business person myself, I find this process enlightening…and useful. Know how your government works—so you can keep it from working against you. Here are the two docs…
After my coverage of Nydia Velázquez yesterday, I continued the conversation about ICT (Information & Communication Technology) for small business in New Brooklyn with her Dan Wiley. Dan is her representative closest to me geographically. He was at the head table yesterday morning. We spoke in some detail after the Congresswoman departed without a receiving line for another closely scheduled meeting. Just to restart the dialog I had tried to initiate in November, I presented Dan with a copy of my blog post for 14 November. This posting contained the text of my first letter to the then Presumptive Chairwoman--delivered via the email submission system of her government Web site. Dan Wiley is actually my own “constituent responder,” so to speak. We spoke by phone today and here is the letter I wrote him this afternoon to advance our exchange to the next milestone...
Back in November—just after the Election moved the political earth—I wrote an open letter to my OWN triumphant Representative in the US House: Nydia Velázquez. Just to let you know what I was doing to advance ICT (Information & Communication Technology) for your New Brooklyn small business or micro-enterprise, I posted a copy of that letter here on my blog on 14 November. Nydia is NOW the Chair of the House Small Business Committee. In my letter to the Congresswoman, I ask what her ICT interest and approach—as Chair of one of the most important Congressional committee for Brooklyn small business—was and would be. The Holiday Season came and went and the 110th Congress took its seats just after the first of the Year. As no answer had come, I was delighted to learn that my own Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce was hosting Representative Velázquez at one of its Congressional Breakfast Forums today. I was glad to have the opportunity to hear her first hand—and find out what MY Congresswoman had to say about ICT and small business…even if I had to ask her that question during Q&A myself…