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Syracuse, Munnsville, Endwell, and Cooperstown entrepreneurs among the 2022 graduates of SBA’s THRIVE program

Nine small-business owners from across upstate New York are among those who completed the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) THRIVE program in 2022. It the revised version of the SBA’s Emerging Leaders program. Pictured here (left to right) are Bernard J. Paprocki, SBA Upstate New York district director; Rebecca Stone, owner of Agrinomic Insights; Dennis Slattery, SCORE mentor; Amy Connelly, owner of Fuel Efficiency; Mike Mowins, owner of Vetted Tech; Katrina Ballard, SBA outreach and marketing specialist; John Hussar, owner of Grey Goose Graphics; Dan Razzano, owner of Razzano Homes and Remodelers; Dan Rickman, SBA deputy district director; Kristina Strain, owner of Badgerface Beauty Supply; Amy Amoroso, director of the Veteran Business Outreach Center; Tom Fairhurst, SCORE mentor; and Meghan Florkowski, director of the WISE Women’s Business Center. (Photo credit: SBA)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Small-business owners from Syracuse, Munnsville, Endwell, and Cooperstown are among the nine graduates of this year’s SBA THRIVE program in the upstate New York district.

The U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) THRIVE program seeks to help small businesses grow nationwide. THRIVE, a free national training program, is short for train, hope, rise, innovate, venture, elevate.

The nine graduates of the Upstate district include Michael Mowins of Vetted Tech Inc. in Syracuse; Sarah Ficken of New Moon Farmstead, LLC in Munnsville in Madison County; John Hussar of Grey Goose Graphics, LLC of Endwell in Broome County; and Rebecca Stone of Agrinomic Insights LLC of Cooperstown in Otsego County. Other participants included entrepreneurs from Clyde, Queensbury, Saratoga Springs, Loudonville in Albany County, and Gilbertsville in Otsego County.

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A redesigned version of the SBA’s annual Emerging Leaders program, THRIVE is a hybrid, six-month course aiming to help small businesses develop and execute strategic growth plans. Participants completed online learning modules and met in Syracuse twice a month throughout the program, sharing business challenges, feedback, and opportunities with one another.

This year’s class was the “most geographically diverse of any prior years,” the SBA said. Participants represented eight different counties — half of which are rural — some traveling two or more hours both ways to learn and support their peers during in-person sessions. The graduates included women-owned small businesses and veteran-owned small businesses, the agency noted.

 

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