 "Photo: Courtesy of the Intersect Fund")
With all the hectic tasks involved with running a small business, many owners do not have the time or money to pursue collegiate business classes in order to hone their business skills, and that’s where the Intersect Fund comes in.
Rutgers College senior Joe Shure and School of Arts and Sciences senior Rohan Mathew conceived the idea for the fund in November 2007.
After about a year and a half of planning and seeking funding, they were able to get the Intersect Fund off the ground with a main focus of offering business training at an affordable rate, said Shure, associate director of the Intersect Fund.
“We cover a wide range of topics including budgeting, managing cash flow, marketing, registering a business…today we’re covering profit margins, marketing promotions, business structures…it’s pretty basic stuff but it’s integral to getting your business off the ground,” Shure said at Saturday’s training session. “It’s really kind of a holistic approach to business training.”
The Intersect Fund covers all of these topics in a six-week training course, which meets once a week for three hours at a time. The tuition for the course is either $40 or $100.00, depending on the income of the client, Shure said.
The fund is able to offer these classes at such a low rate by keeping overhead costs low, Shure said.
For example, to keep rent low, they share their office with another community group.
Elijah’s Promise and the library let us use space for classes for free, Shure said.
“That’s a big thing that we do — we team up with other groups that have a strong reputation in the community and we help make what they offer their clients even stronger,” he said.
Shure said once their clients complete a six-week training session, they are eligible to apply for loans ranging from $2,500 to $20,000.
“After they graduate from the course, our clients can join the Center,” said Mathew, executive director of the Intersect Fund. “The Center is a place where our graduates can come together every other week. The loan application process actually occurs at the Center. Our process is unique because the applications are actually reviewed by your peers at the Center.”
Mathew said to be a Center member only costs $30 a year to cover materials.
“It really is a great opportunity,” he said.
The fund’s clients are a diverse group ranging from restaurateurs to photographers to housecleaners, but they unanimously approve of the fund’s training sessions because of the small class size, warm atmosphere and concise explanation of information.
Pat Falcetano, owner of the Peruvian restaurant La Fogata at 23 Georges Rd., is a member of the Intersect Fund’s current class.
“I’m getting to learn certain things that I need to do that I should have learned before I even opened the business,” Falcetano said. “This is my second business, and if I had learned this first, it would have helped me out a lot.”
Harold Mitchell Jr., another client of the Intersect Fund and a graduate of the Elijah’s Promise Culinary Institute, got off to a rocky start with the group because they felt uncomfortable with his business ideas.
“However, they have given me some really good information. It’s really different learning the reality of it than it is to sit at home fantasizing about my little dessert cart. So far, it’s been a pretty good experience,” Mitchell said.
Photographer Thomas Harris of Pro Tem Photo said he took business classes at the University of Maryland, Taylor Business Institute and Middlesex County College in the past.
“This, though, is a very condensed, aggressive course for individual business owners,” Harris said. “I’m a photographer. I love photography but business-wise I haven’t been as sharp as I should [have been]. You’ve got to learn the business side, and this is an excellent crash course in how to do business.”
Shure said the Intersect Fund currently has about 20 volunteers working in different departments, and they are always accepting more. The application can be downloaded from their
Web site at www.intersectfund.org/application.pdf.
“Joe and I are seniors, and after we graduate, we intend to pass the Fund down to current volunteers,” Mathew said. “I think the Fund should always be run by Rutgers students.”
Interested parties can help the fund by voting for them in Dell Computers and the University of Texas’ competition for student-run community groups that engage in social innovation. The grand prize is $50,000, Shure said.
“We’ve made it to the semi-finalist round, so we’re competing with a hundred other contestants,” he said. “We need some votes online. If people go to vote.intersectfund.org online they can cast a ballot for us.”
Editor’s note: Mathew and Shure are former Targum editors.
