Ginne Rae-Clay always says, “I think I was born to teach and tell.”
In 2007, the Waterbury native joined Central Connecticut State University as the state director of the Connecticut Small Business Development Center (SBDC), which is hosted by the Connecticut State University System.
On a daily basis, Clay leads a team charged with creating, developing and maintaining the relevant programs and services that support the creation, growth and stability of the Connecticut small business community.
The SBDC, funded through a cooperative agreement between the U.S. Small Business Administration, CCSU and the Dept. of Economic and Community Development, is a statewide provider of no-cost technical, management and counseling assistance to small business owners and entrepreneurs
“In addition to raising funds to support the program,” Clay said, “it is important that I identify and maintain productive relationships that support a statewide network of partners to build and maintain support, services and resources for the small business community.”
As a 25-year state employee, Clay has learned a thing or two about local, state and federal governments and the many programs and services businesses can take advantage of. She is determined to share information with as many business owners and entrepreneurs as she can.
“I have been afforded many opportunities to ‘tell’ business owners what I know, and to ‘teach’ them how to navigate and take advantage of programs and opportunities,” Clay says. “I am passionate about success; I feed off of others’ passions to succeed. The more someone is passionate about their business venture, the more passionate I become.”
Clay’s journey to the SBDC came, in large part, as a result of her tremendous work ethic — and a little help.
While serving as communication officer for the DECD, Clay was told that her position was being eliminated. Telling her she was too valuable to lose, Joseph McGee, former commissioner, fought hard to keep Clay. The persistence paid off as Clay was offered the new position of development agent and stayed with the office for 20 years.
“I had no formal business training but, I was willing to listen and learn,” Clay recalls. “Once I was given the chance to start talking to business owners, helping them, telling them and teaching them what I knew and it worked, the rest was history.”
Over the years, Clay has been involved with a multitude of economic, housing and community development projects funded by the state. The ones she is most proud of are those within her own community of Waterbury, including the Waterbury Palace Theatre, WOW Learning Center, Brass Mill Center Mall, WOIC construction project and West Main/ Willow Streetscape Improvement.
Avery Gaddis has known Clay for nearly 10 years and is very familiar with her tremendous work ethic — and her devotion to her hometown.
Gaddis, a loan officer with the Community Economic Development Fund in Meriden, regularly works with Clay and her team to provide financial resources to Connecticut’s small businesses — a partnership that has provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to businesses across the state.
“One of Ginne’s more noticeable qualities is her unwavering support for the community and her unwavering willingness to give back,” Gaddis said. “She does not miss an opportunity to use her ever growing sphere of influence and far-reaching professional network to make the situation of others more favorable, especially women and minority-business owners.”
“Ginne makes everyone around her better — both personally and professionally. Her easy-going disposition and the manner in which she handles pressure, disruption and the assortment of personalities she deals with everyday are remarkable to say the least.”
Clay believes strongly that despite the costs, Connecticut is an inviting place to open a business. But, she says, just having a great idea isn’t enough.
“Connecticut provides great opportunities for entrepreneurs,” she said. “There are incubators, technical assistance, no-cost counseling, financing; it’s really a matter of tenacity on the part of the entrepreneur, and taking advantage of the programs that exist.”
“Some people want to open a business based on emotion and then can’t figure out why the entire state is not leaping to their aid. Entrepreneurs must be realistic and open minded; sometimes the idea might need to be massaged and reshaped — keep an open mind.”
That’s where Clay comes in and her message to business owners is always share, share, share. She says the sharing of information, ideas, networking and communicating with other small business owners is a matter of survival.
In addition to getting to travel all over the state meeting business owners and creating partnerships, it is this personal connection that Clay values so greatly.
“I get to talk to people on many levels all day,” she said. “I can talk to a waitress with a dream of opening her own restaurant in the morning and then a state commissioner, bank president or company CEO in the afternoon; totally different perspectives and communication. I love it!”
“This job is my license to share. I go to businesses and see something that might be an opportunity or disadvantage; I will speak with the owner, give them my card and we usually end up talking several times after.”
While Clay definitely plans to continue in her line of work, she has been thinking seriously about law school, feeling a law degree would allow her the opportunity to work more directly with business owners on a more intimate level.
“As a public servant, my hands are sometimes tied as to the amount of counsel I can provide,” she said. “As a business attorney, I would be able to help business owners at yet another level.”
“Through CCSU, I have been provided a wonderful opportunity to teach in the School of Business. I have taught management and entrepreneurship; I have really enjoyed teaching and could see myself as a full-time professor.”
If history is any indication, she may well be doing both.
