Boosting the economy, transforming the region

PUC is fast becoming NW Indiana’s economic development university

When Christine Neal started the news magazine, Seniors on the Go, she knew she needed business skills. To gain them, she looked to the Entrepreneurship Program at Purdue University Calumet. Through the E-program sessions, she learned to create a marketing plan, set up a staff, develop different streams of revenue for the magazine and understand financial statements. A decade later, she hails the program, intended for current business owners, for providing both academic and professional resources. “You learn from real people who have been out there in the trenches, as well as the book knowledge that’s necessary to create more sophisticated items such as a financial statement and business plan,” Neal said.

In its 11th year, the award-winning Entrepreneurship Program and its graduates are examples of Purdue Calumet’s vision for boosting northwest Indiana’s economy and transforming the region. According to Entrepreneurship Center Director Jamaluddin Husain, business owners who have completed the E-Center training program have realized a 25 to 30 percent average increase in sales, a 30 percent average gain in profitability and a 61 percent average rise in productivity.

To learn more about the Entrepreneurship Center and all it offers, visit their web site or call them at 219-989-2100.

Alumni-worthy jobs

“I like to tell people we’re trying to help create the jobs that are worthy of our graduates,” Purdue Calumet Chancellor Howard Cohen said. It is anticipated that some of those jobs will be developed with the help of Purdue Calumet professors at the new Hammond Business Incubator and the Purdue Technology Center of Northwest Indiana in Merrillville. Both are designed to attract, support and nurture promising, new businesses until they are mature enough to set out on their own – hopefully, in northwest Indiana.

To learn more, visit the web sites for these exciting new community-based offerings from Purdue University Calumet: the Center for Energy Efficiency and Reliability and the Water Institute.

Gregory Boyan

Hammond Business Incubator Executive Director appointed

A Munster resident with more than 25 years of experience in high technology-related business has been appointed executive director of the new Hammond Business Incubator.

He previously served as general manager of Computer Overseas Corp., a Chicago-based export trading company. He also has worked for small and larger companies in fields of electronics, information technology and embedded computers.

The Hammond Business Incubator is a joint operation of the City of Hammond and Purdue University Calumet. It is intended to spur economic growth and development within Hammond by attracting start-up businesses and providing them with needed support and expertise to grow and thrive. Hammond has contracted Purdue Calumet to manage and operate the incubator.

“Hammond anticipates this incubator becoming a catalyst for future growth in the downtown area,” Hammond Economic Development Director Rick Calinski said. “Our hope is to position the incubator as a leading facility for growing transportation and logistics companies. Our long term goal is to nurture businesses out of the incubator and help them grow in revenue and job creation as successful employers in Hammond and northwest Indiana.”

As executive director Boyan is responsible for developing a business plan for the incubator, oversee financial management, establish technology development prospects, develop and implement business support programs to help start-up businesses maximize growth and success, provide mentoring and business counseling to clients on an as-need basis, and supervise and train Purdue Calumet student interns to prepare industry analyses, market assessments, technology evaluations and financial projections for client firms.

“Greg Boyan is an effective, experienced business leader who is capable of directing important initiatives as part of Hammond’s efforts to advance economic development,” Purdue Calumet Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Nabil Ibrahim said. “We at Purdue Calumet look forward to partnering with the city and this incubator in this exciting venture.”

Boyan calls the Hammond Business Incubator “a dynamic business model, showing new companies how to develop, fund and sustain a business operation. We hope to produce many successful firms that can leave the business incubator financially sound and free standing. It will help to create new jobs and revitalize and strengthen the local economy.”

Boyan holds an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from Keller Graduate School.

Eventually, the Hammond Business Incubator will be housed in downtown Hammond at 5209 Hohman Ave. in the former Mercantile National Bank accounting facility. The building, which is being renovated to accommodate the incubator, was donated to the Hammond Redevelopment Commission. In the meantime, Boyan has a temporary office at the Purdue Calumet Entrepreneurship Center at 1247 169th St.

“We invite start-up business owners who would like more information about the Hammond Business Incubator to contact me,” Boyan said. He can be reached at 219/989-2100, 800/HI-PURDUE, ext. 2100 or gboyan@calumet.purdue.edu.