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Written by Samantha Yeh
One SUNY Oswego graduate student will combine his passion for business with the desire to help aspiring entrepreneurs in a Quest presentation Wednesday.
Armando Franco, a MBA candidate in his second semester, will focus on how SUNY Oswego can develop a business model that will support student run start-up companies.
"I think this model is a great way to help students start their own businesses and give them the support they need to be profitable," Franco said.
Franco's plan includes creating an incubator at SUNY Oswego to provide students with resources to help their start-up businesses become successful.
"If someone in biology or another program came up with this incredible idea and they didn't know how to start it, they could reach out to this incubator and get help with this idea," he said. "That's one of my goals."
The incubator would provide students with critical resources that are usually too expensive for startups, such as access to a lawyer, accountant and marketing researcher.
Franco's presentation was inspired by his recent trip to the EDA University Center's Summit for Supporting Student Startups in Syracuse on March 29, an event he attended alongside Dr. Sarfraz Mian of the strategic management and entrepreneurship program.
"Dr. Mian really helped me with this idea," Franco said. "If it weren't for my professors and the support of the dean, I really wouldn't have had these experiences."
Franco will also take part in another presentation for Quest on post-retirement and pensions in New York State.
"Over the summer I got to do a lot of research with Dr. Cram and a couple other students as part of a program the provost hosted," he said. "We want to bring awareness to citizens about the differences in retirement funds."
Franco earned his associate's degree from SUNY Morrisville in 2009, but decided to transfer to SUNY Oswego to pursue his MBA after he was awarded a diversity fellowship.
"I got the diversity fellowship which helped me out a lot with my tuition," Franco said. "Having all the help and the opportunities definitely swayed my decision to come here."
Franco credits the MBA program for helping him develop his leadership skills and prepare him for the business world.
"I've always had that drive, but the program definitely turns you into a leader and gives you more confidence and experience in research," he said.
Franco said his courses have helped give him a different view of how to solve problems. "The courses give me a different mindset, they help prepare me to think in different ways," he said. "You learn not to just apply old principles, but here you're trying to figure out new ways of solving a problem more efficiently."
Quest will be held this year on Wednesday, April 18. Franco's presentations, "Pensions and Other Post-Retirement Benefits" will be at 9:15 a.m. and "Discussion on the Summit for Supporting Student Start-ups" will be at 10:30 a.m., both in Campus Center 205. More information can be found at www.oswego.edu/academics/opportunities/quest.html.
