Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership Wins Coleman Grant

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Coleman Foundation has awarded a $25,000 grant to the Center for Entrepreneurial (CEL) Leadership in the University at Buffalo School of Management for development of a program that partners the center with the school's internship program.

The proposed program will introduce undergraduate students to the responsibilities, rewards and risks of entrepreneurship by placing them in internships at businesses owned by CEL entrepreneurs, according to CEL Director Marianne Sullivan. The students will be required to analyze and discuss their internship experiences as real-life case examples of how businesses operate and function.

"The grant provides an opportunity to link two of the school's most successful outreach programs for the benefit of students who have an interest in becoming entrepreneurs," said Lewis Mandell, dean of the UB School of Management.

CEL was one of 10 educational programs nationwide to be awarded the grant by the Coleman Foundation, established in 1951 by the late Mr. and Mrs. J.D. Stetson Coleman, founders of Fannie May Candies. The foundation supports education programs that reflect its philosophy of "self-sufficiency through self-employment."

Established in 1987, CEL has helped more than 250 Western New York business owners grow and refine their businesses. The School of Management's internship program annually places more than 300 students in internships that provide hands-on training in accounting, finance, human resources, internal auditing, management systems or marketing.