City Offers Customers, Workforce

Tracey Drury and Kent HooverBusiness First and Bizjournals.com

October 24th 2005

Inner-city investments "make money"

Large businesses, meanwhile, should see inner cities "as a real economic
opportunity," Adams says. Small businesses in these urban areas need financial
services and products that large businesses can provide.

Dan Penberthy, executive vice president at Rand Capital, said that although
an inner-city address is not one of the requirements for funding, the firm does
encourage its portfolio companies to remain in the city.

Those companies include Synacor Inc., with offices downtown in Key Tower, and
G-TEC Natural Gas Systems, located at the William Gaiter Parkway on the city’s
East Side.

"We do have a commitment to finding the best space for our companies, and
lately, the best space has been in some of these City of Buffalo properties," he
said. "We have seen both members of their employee base move into the area and
it’s been easier to find some young, maybe entry-level staffing (from the
city)."

Venture-capital firms with a focus on community development are "finding
strong investment opportunities in inner cities," says Kerwin Tesdell, president
of the Community Development Venture Capital Alliance.

Most of the investment capital for the alliance’s 100-plus members comes from
banks and other financial institutions.

"Our investments do make money for them," Tesdell says.