Reporter Volume 25, No.12 November 18, 1993

By STEVE COX
News Bureau Staff
More than 75 of Western New York's leading entrepreneurs are graduates
of the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL), a program in the
UB School of Management designed to enhance the entrepreneurial skills
of founders and managers of established businesses, thus improving
their prospects for further growth and development.
	And many of these executives, known as fellows, continue to
build on the knowledge they gained and the relationships they forged
as fellows by participating in the activities of their own alumni
association. 
	CEL Alumni Association co-founder and current Chair Gerald
Murak, a consultant and U.S. operations manager for Chameleon Color
Cards Ltd. of Canada, says the organization grew out of the desire of
many former fellows to continue the "networking" and sharing begun
during their CEL experience. 
	Now in its third year, the alumni group maintains a busy
schedule, with a social outing, retreat or topical meeting slated for
each month. The group is planning a "Strategic Alliances Forum" in
February that will feature leaders from business, education and the
community. It also has scheduled a WNYeconomic summit to be held in
April. 
	Thomas Hughes, owner of Rainbow Fashions in Orchard Park and a
member of the CEL Class of 1991, says the most valuable thing he took
away from his CEL experience was a new network of business friends who
offer advice and serve as a "sounding board" for new ideas.  	Hughes
recently was awarded the first C. Taylor Kew Award by the alumni
association.  The award, named for the Buffalo businessman and CEL
adjunct instructor who was killed in an airplane crash last year, is
presented to an alumnus of the CEL program who displays "courage and
determination to succeed combined with a commitment to community."
	Eugene Wach, a CEL Policy Council member and member of the
center's inaugural class of 1987, echoed Hughes' sentiments. The
opportunity CEL and its alumni association provide to share ideas with
other entrepreneurs is invaluable, notes Wach, owner and president of
E.G.W. Associates of Buffalo. Of course, one's family and friends are
supportive, he says, but "often, being an entrepreneur is so different
from anything else, it helps to find others who are in the same
situation."
	Wach feels the CEL can be especially valuable to companies
that may have outgrown their own abilities. "We are able to provide
assistance that can keep a business viable, keeping jobs here in
Buffalo," he says.
	CEL offers two programs: A Core Program geared to assist
entrepreneurs operating medium-sized companies with 10-200 employees
and annual sales of between $1 million-$20 million, and a new Emerging
Entrepreneur Program targeted to operators of smaller businesses that
are beyond the start-up phase, but whose growth may be limited due to
the nature of the business or organization.
	Both groups meet weekly at UB, participating in a challenging
schedule of clinics, lectures and social functions designed to enhance
their marketing and management skills and foster shared learning among
the friendly competitors.
	In the Core Program, fellows attend symposiums on such topics
as negotiations, capital acquisition and financing, and human
resources, and receive a professional assessment of their individual
strengths and weaknesses.  In addition, they are matched with a mentor
who can serve as a resource for the fellow.
	For the first time this year, members of the CEL Alumni
Association will present mini-clinics on their own businesses and
relate how they have grown professionally since their days as fellows.