Awarded to Quinnipiac, the M&T Bank grant will begin supporting Greater New Haven and Hamden community entrepreneurs with the academy’s fall 2025 cohort of 20 small business owners, said Tuvana Rua, associate professor of management. The grant will continue to support another new cohort in the fall of 2026.

Rua is the director of the ConnCORP/Quinnipiac Community Entrepreneurship Academy and Clinics and Co-Director for M&T Bank Center for Women and Business at Quinnipiac.

Based out of the Lab at ConnCORP in New Haven, the academy’s entrepreneurial incubator was launched with an earmark grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) awarded to Quinnipiac. When the grant expired in August of 2024, ConnCORP worked with SBA to receive a grant which supplemented this year’s cohort.

Quinnipiac applied for the $125,000 grant from M&T Bank on behalf of the partnership program.

“Now, going into the next two years, the M&T Bank grant is going to be helping the program to be sustainable. The grant is really important, because we would not have continued without it. We feel very privileged to be recognized by M&T Bank,” said Rua.

Rua said M&T Bank has not only supported the program financially though this grant, but as a pivotal partner to the academy program through the years.

“M&T Bank provides community support. They come and deliver a workshop to educate the entrepreneurs about funding resources, and they are available for the business owners who want to reach back and learn more; or even open up accounts. So M&T Bank is not only there financially for the program, but they also are a great partner to support our participants in the program, during the program, and beyond. We very much appreciate them for it,” Rua said.

Rua is also grateful for the strong partnership of visionary ConnCORP/Quinnipiac Community Entrepreneurship Academy and Clinics co-founders: Quinnipiac Board of Trustees vice chairman Carlton Highsmith, founder and board chairman of ConnCORP and board chair of Connecticut Center for Arts and Technology (ConnCAT); and Quinnipiac Board of Trustee member Erik Clemons, ConnCORP CEO and ConnCAT founding president. Additionally, the academy is greatly supported by Jahkeeva Morgan, Director of The Lab at ConnCORP and Amina Khokhar, Program Manager of The Lab at ConnCORP, said Rua.

ConnCORP is the acronym for the Connecticut Community Outreach Revitalization Program. ConnCORP’s strong relationship with M&T Bank led to the bank’s annual funding workshop offered to academy participants every January.

“ConnCORP is such a valuable partner in this. It is a once-in-a-lifetime partnership we have with them, and we’re so grateful to have it. They are phenomenal in terms of their reach, their network, and the support that they provide not only to the businesses that are in the program but any student from Quinnipiac that takes part in the program,” said Rua.

Quinnipiac faculty and Quinnipiac students from several disciplines assist in various areas to support small business entrepreneurs during the academy program each year.

Through its relationships with ConnCORP and Quinnipiac, M&T Bank has gained a greater awareness of the academy, its benefits and results, and of the consistent demand it receives from entrepreneurs seeking to enter the program, said Rua.

“We have hard data showing the program has been very successful. We can only accommodate 20 people at a time, and we do have a waitlist of about 60 people right now,” said Rua.

Every participant comes away with a fully developed business plan to utilize for funding opportunities. One participant opened a store in New Haven utilizing the business plan; another used her plan to grow her store space with the creation of a co-working space supporting other businesses in the community.

“As these businesses grow, it is helping the Connecticut economy overall and helping employment, because they’re also employing people. We have heard that not only their customer base has increased for many of them, but they also have increased revenue,” said Rua.

The plans also assist business owners with grant applications, including the first cohort’s six successful grant recipients. One academy business owner landed two government contracts utilizing the business plan together with other resources offered both through Quinnipiac and at ConnCORP.

To assist program participants, Quinnipiac cybersecurity students run audits of online business activity to identify weaknesses and vulnerabilities and recommend low-cost or no-cost solutions. School of Business MBA program project management students help produce project management charters for businesses with time-limited projects. School of Communications public relations students have helped program participants audit their social media and online presence and tailor marketing to their mission.

In addition, “…every single participant walks away with a professionally developed commercial by Quinnipiac TV and Film students. This is something that can cost thousands of dollars, so that is definitely something that is helpful,” said Rua.

The commercials are also the highlight of the annual pitch competition and graduation recognition ceremony for academy participants, held each May. New applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Rua encourages interested parties to apply for the fourth cohort at the online portal.

Thanks to the generous $125,000 grant from M&T Bank, the successful small business community that is being cultivated through the ConnCORP and Quinnipiac Community Entrepreneurship Academy and Clinic can continue to grow.

“It is definitely creating a community of entrepreneurs who are willing to support each other,” said Rua. “A few of the first cohort members came back as mentors into the program for this year’s cohort, and they are hoping to create a standing committee from previous graduates to provide feedback and support to ongoing, incoming participants. It is building a community that’s supporting each other.”