OCC adviser works with businesses hit by Sandy in NYC

SYRACUSE — After spending two weeks working with small businesses hit by Hurricane Sandy in the Far Rockaway section of Queens, Nancy Ansteth says some of her advice to local startups might have a bit more punch.

Ansteth is a certified business adviser at the Small Business Development Center at Onondaga Community College. She routinely counsels budding entrepreneurs on the steps they need to take to get their businesses up and running and ensure they’re around for the long haul.

It’s often advice on mundane matters like business insurance — something some of the small companies Ansteth worked with in Queens didn’t have.

“A situation like this helps drive the point home,” she says. “It’s not just a business adviser telling you that you should do this.”

Ansteth spent her time in Far Rockaway helping small businesses file paperwork and complete applications for loans and other disaster assistance. For the most part, they were very small companies with a few employees at most.

None of them were prepared for a disaster like Sandy, she says. They simply didn’t think something of that magnitude could happen to them.

It had been decades since an event like Sandy hit New York City, Ansteth notes.

“You have this false sense of security that it’s not going to happen again,” she says. “That comes under the category of risk management we talk about.”

Many of the businesses Ansteth worked with were local, neighborhood places. Some of those without insurance had no hope of rebuilding.

But other owners, especially those born in the area, had a different take.

“It wouldn’t occur to them to leave,” Ansteth says. “As devastated as they were, they wouldn’t consider it. So many of the people we talked to seemed so optimistic.”

The business owners Ansteth talked to were often just starting to focus on rebuilding their companies. If they lived in the area, they generally first concentrated on repairing damaged homes or finding new ones, she says.

One taxi service she worked with lost a number of its cars in the flooding, Ansteth says. The company was working to get new vehicles rapidly and receive all the required city and county certifications needed to use them as cabs.

“They were scrambling and trying to remain competitive and keep their business afloat with half of what they had before,” she says.

One thing businesses in the area need is more money. There are not nearly enough grants or loans available to help all the companies that need assistance, Ansteth says.

In addition to valuable firsthand experience Ansteth plans to share with local entrepreneurs, she made connections with other Small Business Development Center workers from around the state.

She worked directly with a colleague from Jamestown, she says.

“We just hit it off wonderfully,” she adds. “Now that’s another connection I have within the [Small Business Development Center].”

The center at Onondaga Community College is part of a network of 25 regional centers in New York. They are supported by the U.S. Small Business Administration, the state Department of Education, and the national system of small business centers.

The centers provide one-on-one counseling and training for those looking to start or grow small businesses.

Contact Tampone at ktampone@cnybj.com