Dec 12, 2014 01:48 PM EST By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

The University at Buffalo School of Management's Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL) has launched a new program for assist early-stage entrepreneurs, officials announced Thursday.

The Startup CEL program will provide specialized support and guidance to young, innovation-driven companies as they navigate the complex pathway to commercializing their product, service or technology.

"At the CEL, we proudly support entrepreneurs as they launch, grow and sustain successful businesses that create jobs and invigorate our regional economy," Thomas Ulbrich, assistant dean and executive director of the CEL, said in a statement. "For individuals who are just beginning to take their ideas to market, the Startup CEL program will provide crucial knowledge and strategic insights, as well as a valuable support network of entrepreneurs, to increase their probability for success."

Using the Disciplined Entrepreneurship framework, the Startup CEL program will offer a comprehensive, integrated and proven step-by-step approach to creating innovative, highly successful products. Participants will learn to understand their customer, focus on key market opportunities, overcome obstacles, scale a business and understand and communicate with potential investors.

The school will provide workspace at both the Thomas R. Beecher Jr. Innovation Center and at dig, a co-working space designed to help entrepreneurs form, refine and launch their business ideas. In addition, Ignite will provide mentoring, networking and collaboration opportunities, and help identify potential class participants through its relationship with entrepreneurs working at the Innovation Center, dig and other facilities on the medical campus and in the community.

"Startup CEL is a perfect fit with Ignite and is one more step in the BNMC [Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus] goal of cultivating an entrepreneurial ecosystem and a culture of innovation and collaboration in our region, while providing the tools young companies need to develop their ideas into sustainable businesses," said Vic Nole, director of new business development at BNMC Inc.

The program is slated to launch in February.

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