Collaboration.
That was the theme that resonated throughout Lyneir Richardson’s keynote address at the Greater Newark Enterprises Corporation’s (GNEC) Sixth Annual Opportunities and Awards Breakfast in June.
GNEC’s annual breakfast gives small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs a chance to network with New Jersey’s entrepreneurial ecosystem that includes representatives from government, lending institutions and not for profits supporting entrepreneurship.
Richardson, the current Executive Director for The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (CUEED) based at Rutgers University-Newark, celebrated the growing collaboration happening throughout the Newark business community. He praised the entrepreneurs, economic development officials and corporate partners who have come together to expand professional networks and share expertise.
“When I look around here, especially in Newark, I see a lot of people that collaborate well. When I moved here 8 years ago I fell in love with the city,” Richardson said. “There are people here who collaborate well. They survive and they grow.”
Among the entrepreneurs and leaders present, GNEC recognized Colleen Galvin, Senior Vice President of Citi Community Development, Richard Charles, CEO of Rennergy LLC and Franklin Ventura , CEO of Easy Book911. Galvin received the Community Honoree award while Charles and Ventura were celebrated as Small Business Honorees.
Those recognized affirmed the importance of collaboration and Richardson as well shared his journey as an entrepreneur and his position at the CUEED that has been anchored in community collaboration.
The CUEED, which was founded in 2008, aims to bring economic growth and stability to urban communities by focusing on urban entrepreneurship. By building community and corporate relationships, the CUEED brings together young intellectuals with private capital, city leadership, and nonprofit businesses to foster local economic rejuvenation.
“We integrate academia in the private sector and government organizations and nonprofit partners, all with the goal of stimulating growth through entrepreneurship,” Richardson said. “The connection between entrepreneurship and economic development and entrepreneurship and community revitalization is something I wake up every morning and think about.”
Richardson’s ultimate goal is for the CUEED to help transform the economy of Newark and become a model for other urban universities to follow. But as he expressed to his peers, Richardson knows that vision will be impossible if the city of Newark does not continue to collaborate–a lesson he learned the hard way.
At age 28, Richardson founded his own real estate development company, LakeShore Development. He would soon be recognized as Illinois’ Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration and find his company earning close to 9 million dollars of revenue each year.
However, it would all come crashing down for the former CEO of the Brick City Development Corporation.
“I lost everything. A total wipeout. My mother died, I got divorced, my business failed. I had to figure out how I was going to start over and rebuild,” Richardson said. “It’s okay to be down. It’s not okay to stay down.”
Following his own advice, Richardson reinvented himself by changing his thought process about business.
“One of the lessons I had to learn was to collaborate with people more. As a young entrepreneur I would always walk into a room with my own agenda,” Richardson said. “Post- down cycle, I started to think a little different. I flipped the script.”
Richardson was able to “flip the script” by making a conscious effort to become more helpful and valuable to colleagues. Upon meeting a banker, investor, entrepreneur, or the like, Richardson first tries to understand what he or she is trying to accomplish and then seeks to find a way to align his own goals with theirs.
“I’ll meet with anybody. I’ll talk with anybody.” Richardson said. “We are swimming in the same current and I can swim along with you and we can find synergy.”
His adjusted business approach has paid dividends for both the CUEED and the City of Newark. In the past decade, about 80 percent of the 350 entrepreneurs who have been through CUEED programs are still in business. According to Richardson, these entrepreneurs have collectively earned over 67 million dollars in revenue in New Jersey, and currently employ more than 580 people in the state.
“We all should be looking for opportunities to work together. More collaboration. We need to keep bringing new people to our party, not thinking competitively,” said Richardson, who doubles as the CEO of the social enterprise The Chicago TREND Corporation.
Richardson’s belief also helped in the development of ExpressNewark, a 50,000 square foot arts incubator on Halsey Street that partners students with local resources with the goal of facilitating artistic expression in the community. Around the same time that Richardson was searching for a new program to offer at the CUEED, two Rutgers business students approached him and expressed a desire for a space to work with and assist fellow young entrepreneurs.
“I remember listening to that (the students pitch) in this new frame of mind thinking ‘I wonder if there is something I can do with that. We are looking for a new program. Can I collaborate with them?’”
Richardson did exactly that, becoming instrumental in facilitating access to the resources, space and equipment of ExpressNewark and helping the students achieve their goals while he achieved his.
Determined to revitalize the City of Newark and help turn Rutgers into the best public business school in the country, Richardson knows that programs like the GNEC Opportunities and Awards Breakfast and CUEED are instrumental in doing so.
But for Richardson the biggest key will always be collaboration.
“Believe that the pie is not small, it can always grow bigger,” Richardson said. “I hope we continue to bring new people to our party and enlarge the pie.”
Photo: Lyneir Richardson (left) with Steven Gomez, Executive Director of GNEC
