QCC head pushes for center for local entrepreneurs
Institute would be resource for starting a business
Gail Carberry, president of Quinsigamond Community College, is concerned that Worcester may be putting too many of its eggs in one basket.
She said the city pays a lot of attention to its burgeoning biotech sector, while scant attention is paid to the small businesses and small business people that really drive the city's economy.
"Worcester hangs a lot on its biotech sector, which is great and understandable, but it can't be all there is," Carberry said. "We've got to get other horses in the starting block."
Carberry came to Quinsigamond Community College in August from Springfield Technical Community College, where she served as vice president of institutional advancement. While in Springfield, Carberry was instrumental in helping found STCC's Entrepreneurial Institute, a "one-stop shop" for fledgling small-businesses or small business-people looking to get their businesses off the ground.
Carberry said Worcester could benefit from similar efforts.
"When you look at the Worcester economy overall, there's a whole range of service businesses, manufacturing businesses and other types of industry that aren't receiving the same types of focus" as the biotech sector, Carberry said. "We really need to start to percolate out some new business thoughts."
Early response
In February, Carberry met with several local business leaders to test the waters and gauge interest in creating some kind of community entrepreneurship efforts in and around Worcester. She said the initial response was very good, although there was a typical concern regarding available resources. She said she is now trying to figure out the best course of action to pursue and how Quinsigamond can fit into a wider community effort.
She said an effort similar to the Springfield institute, a $4 million capital renovation of an existing 40,000-square-foot space to create a business resource center and small business incubator, while very successful, may not be the best road to follow in Worcester.
"What we did in Springfield need not be replicated here," said Carberry. "Worcester is a unique city. What I have is a set of experiences and ideas that I have brought to this campus with the idea of percolating them to faculty and staff, to the community, with a sense that the issue of small business development is a key driver for the economic vitality of the region. We haven't yet decided what would work in Worcester, or even if this could work in Worcester.
For its part, Carberry said Quinsigamond is focused on making entrepreneurship a large part of its curriculum, with the potential for an associate's degree in entrpreneurship in the future and other non-degree programs.
Carberry said she would also like to see a broad outreach effort involving regional high schools, similar to her earlier efforts in Springfield that led to the creation of a student business incubator as part of the larger STCC entrepreneur institute.
Carberry said that regardless of the future shape of the program, cooperation among community agencies and institutions will be critical to the program's success. Efforts must be complementary, and not competitive, if they are to survive, she said.
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