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Spotlighting the SBA THRIVE program’s 2022 graduates

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 is 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. — The nine graduates of this year’s SBA THRIVE program in the upstate New York district include small-business owners from Syracuse, Munnsville, Endwell, and Cooperstown. 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, […]

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

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.

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.

“Helping small businesses grow and flourish is crucial for a healthy local economy,” Bernard J. Paprocki, director of the SBA upstate New York district, said in a statement. “This year’s THRIVE graduates have already started achieving their growth goals, such as hiring more employees, reaching new markets, opening brick-and-mortar locations or planning for succession. I congratulate them all on their achievements thus far and thank them for their outstanding collaborative efforts to support one another’s growth and contribute to the Central New York economy.”

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 — with 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.

The Upstate New York district office has hosted over a dozen cohorts of the Emerging Leaders program over the past decade, including 11 in Syracuse and three in Albany, with 170 total graduates, the SBA said.

Eric Reinhardt