Our mission is to be a resource to others. In the fields of Compliance, Business Development, Marketing, and Web Development, FBDC hopes to empower the Bronx community by collaborating with small businesses and sharing ideas that promote sustainable growth and inclusive business ideologies.

The Fordham Business Development Collaboratory, the FBDC, is an initiative with the Social Innovation Collaboratory at Fordham University. The FBDC intends to build partnerships with businesses across New York, with a primary focus on Bronx communities, while also being a resource for business development, marketing, and web development needs. Historically, financial exclusion is an issue that has unfairly affected residents of minority-majority communities like The Bronx. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic and other recent events have disproportionately harmed small business owners. In response, we have assembled a cohort of passionate, diverse, and qualified students from Fordham University to offer cost-free consulting services for businesses interested in partnering with our team. 

This initiative, spearheaded by the Social Innovation Collaboratory, aims to address short-term and long-term needs for small businesses facing adversity compounded by the pandemic. The FBDC is committed to uplifting The Bronx and surrounding communities economically and socially, as well as being part of the anti-racism campaign that Fordham University is currently conducting. Thus, the undergraduate and graduate departments of students and faculty have joined to establish a way to better integrate the Bronx community with the University’s day-to-day operations. 

Each team is made up of students who are pursuing degrees in the areas of finance, marketing, economics, web development, communications, and more.  These students have previous experience working in these fields of interest. We also work with professors, alumni, and other professional contacts to ensure our student collaborators have adequate knowledge and qualifications for each one of our business-related endeavors. 

Through the use of our research division, we hope to create a virtual hub of information to be readily available for any small business to utilize. Within our resources, we hope to provide infographics, reports, and videos that are easy to understand and cover important issues relating to compliance, finance, marketing, and web development. We also aim to provide the majority of our resources in both English and Spanish versions. Overall, we hope to support our clients through direct work and supplementary learning tools.