Schoharie County's first START-UP NY project had its grand opening Friday afternoon.
With nearly 50 officials and others looking on, Greg Wilhelm cut the ribbon on his Royal Meadery in Warnerville.
Mr. Wilhelm, a SUNY Cobleskill alumnus, is producing mead, or honey wine, and plans to distribute his product around the area and beyond.
START-UP NY helped him get going. It offers businesses a partnership with a SUNY school, and in return, companies and their employees are exempt from sales and state income taxes for 10 years.
Although there are partnerships in the works between businesses and SUNY Cobleskill, Mr. Wilhelm's Royal Meadery is the first.
He's producing the mead by using honey from his approximately 50 hives. The thrust didn't start out as a business, however.
Scott Ferguson, Chamber of Commerce president and SUNY Cobleskill professor who had Mr. Wilhelm in his classes, said mead-making began as a hobby and class project.
Mr. Wilhelm won several awards for his business plans, Dr. Ferguson said, and the project grew from the classroom into reality.
"This is built around New York products," Dr. Ferguson said. "This is the type of business our area needs."
Mr. Wilhelm responded that he's grateful for SUNY Cobleskill's help--for his classes, START-UP NY and SUNY services in the future.
START-UP NY is not a free ride. Partnering businesses must provide internships and opportunities for SUNY students and also must create jobs.
Empire State Development, which oversees START-UP NY, reported that Mr. Wilhelm is committed to creating seven jobs and investing $225,000.
Leslie Whatley, executive vice president for START-UP NY, stressed Friday that the program "is all about bringing jobs to Upstate New York."
"For START-UP, the affiliation with SUNYs is the secret sauce for this program," she added.
"We graduate 40,000 STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) students a year, and most of them leave the state. Greg and his company are an example of how this gets real."
But START-UP has come under fire recently because as Albany announces newly approved partnerships and the hundreds of jobs involved, few have actually gotten off the ground yet.
The state had to get the details in place, Ms. Whatley said, including getting SUNY schools on board.
"Economic development does not happen over night," Ms. Whatley said. "And this is more than about jobs. This is about the relationship between business and the university."
After cutting the ribbon on his new business, Mr. Wilhelm offered samples of his products and tours of the meadery.