Annie D'Agostino, Author at NJEDA

By Juliet Fletcher/The Record
September 27, 2012

* The federally financed effort will advise, train and fund small-business ventures in foreign markets.

New Jersey small businesses with an eye to export will soon be able to seek state grant money to develop foreign markets.

In a step aimed at giving promising smaller businesses some international reach, the state’s new International Business Development and Protocol will administer a $204,000 grant from the federal Small Business Administration to advise, train and even fund companies’ first steps beyond U.S. borders.

Michael Van Wagner, the executive director of the state’s Business Action Center, which includes the international development arm, said New Jersey would use the federal money to allow a variety of small companies everything from small trips to international trade shows – a bet he says can pay off for the state in terms of job creation and economic productivity.

NBC40.net
September 25, 2012

Acting New Jersey Governor Kim Guadagno helped small businesses connect with buyers from all over the world in Atlantic City Tuesday.

They were in town for discover 2012, the U.S. commercial service global business forum, which allows New Jersey and regional businesses to meet with exporters from around the globe.

One of the goals of the conference is to teach small businesses how to do business with the world at large.

By Katie Eder/NJBIZ
9/21/2012

After a run-in with New Jersey’s nonprofit marketing arm three months ago at an international biotechnology convention in Boston, Michal Kaczmarski, markets editor of England-based Foreign Direct Investment Magazine, pitched a feature idea to his editor to determine firsthand if the state lives up to the group’s enthusiasm about its business-friendly climate.

“The biotech conference was a good opportunity for me to speak to the most active and helpful agencies about how they go about promoting their states … but there’s a difference between speaking to a promotional agency and them telling you they have great business opportunities, and actually experiencing it,” Kaczmarski said. “On this trip, I’ve been kind of like a mystery shopper, and I think the business-to-business approach of Choose New Jersey in trying to engage as many companies as possible is working well. If it’s easy for me to work with them, then it’s got to be easy for foreign investors.”

Kaczmarski said the state’s best bet for attracting foreign direct investment is through the Partnership for Action, which is made up of the state Economic Development Authority, Business Action Center and Choose New Jersey.

By Juliet Fletcher/The Record
September 16, 2012

Over the past two years, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno’s public schedule has been filled with visits to hundreds of businesses, from bakeries to playhouses to New Jersey’s only bison farm, pressing the flesh as the ubiquitous symbol of the Christie administration’s “business-friendly” push.

But behind the company tours, photo ops and glad-handing, the 53-year-old former prosecutor has carved out an ever-expanding and increasingly powerful role as Governor Christie’s key link to the business community.

A year since the state’s first lieutenant governor was granted new and expanded executive powers to promote business growth statewide, Guadagno is well known for being reachable by cellphone when business leaders call with problems. Giving out her cell digits at every business roundtable she attends, she holds up her state-supplied Blackberry to tell them: “You paid for it.”

By Desmond Miller/NBC 40
September 14, 2012

Representatives from state agencies gathered at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey today to participate in one of Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno’s series of public meetings to promote “New Jersey Resources for Business Growth.”

“You are entitled to a response,” announced Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno.

The message Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno expressed Thursday night at one of her “New Jersey Resources for Business Growth” expo was simple.

Small business owners deserve to know what resources are available to help them grow.

A meeting of the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority has been scheduled for Wednesday, September 19, 2012 at 7:00 pm at the Tinton Falls Municipal Building, 556 Tinton Avenue, Tinton Falls, NJ. Formal action may be taken at this meeting. A copy of the proposed agenda can be found 48 hours prior to the meeting at the websites of the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority: www.nj.gov/fmera, and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority: www.njeda.gov.

By Ilya Hemlin/NJ 101.5
September 6, 2012

Current and interested small business owners were given a chance to meet one-on-one with representatives from state government and get advice from Lt Governor Kim Guadagno.

The Lakewood Development Corporation, the administrative arm of the Urban Enterprise Zone, and the New Jersey Business Action Center hosted the event at the historic Strand Theater Wednesday night. Several dozen people braved the thunderstorms to attend the seminar.

Governor Guadagno gave the keynote presentation, and spoke about the importance of the government not getting in the way of businesses operating. She told those in attendance to take advantage of the opportunity to talk to “all of Trenton without having to pick up a phone.”

“These are the people that have the answers to the questions that you need answered so you have the confidence you need to grow, to hire one more person, or more importantly to get me, Trenton, out of your way so you can grow and hire one or two more people.”

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s next public Board Meeting will take place at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, September 13, 2012 at 36 West State St., Trenton, NJ 08625. A copy of the proposed agenda can be found prior to the meeting at www.njeda.gov/Board. Following the Board Meeting, minutes and the full agenda will also be available at www.njeda.gov/Board.

Warren Reporter
September 1, 2012

The Warren County Economic Development Advisory Council (EDAC) will host a forum with Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno to learn about New Jersey Resources for Business Growth. Guadagno will be accompanied by representatives from numerous state departments and affiliated agencies.

The NJ Resources for Business Growth forum takes place Wednesday, Oct. 17, at the Centenary College’s David and Carol Lackland Performing Arts Center, 715 Grand Avenue, Hackettstown. Registration begins at 4:30 p.m. and the program will run from 5-8 p.m.

By Shannon K. Winning/Long Branch-Eatontown Patch

August 29, 2012

When Goldman Sachs set up its new headquarters in Battery Park City in 2009, it brought with it 8,000 employees who needed an eye doctor, a dry cleaner and someone to make them a cheeseburger, fries and a shake combo. To keep its employees humming the financial giant created a small town of sorts, surrounding its 43-story building with a mix of retail and service businesses.

And since Goldman is in the business of banking and not sandwiches, it fostered the growth of those small businesses by providing the real estate and the customers.

In Monmouth County the people behind the transformation of Fort Monmouth from military installation into live/work/play community are banking on a similar phenomenon, albeit on a much smaller scale.

Bruce Steadman, executive director of the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority, told Patch that small business at the fort “is going to thrive based on the larger anchors.”