Our mission is to be a resource to others. In the fields of Compliance, Finance, Marketing, and Web Development, the 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 the Bronx, while also being a resource for compliance, finance, 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 Bronx 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 any local Bronx 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 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  compliance, finance, marketing, or web development; who have previous experience working in these fields of interest; or who plan on working with professors 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 communications team, as well, 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.