Connecting Students to Rural Entrepreneurship
Every fall for the past few years, students from Syracuse University and Ithaca College have traveled to the Adirondack North Country for an experience that highlights the realities of rural entrepreneurship, the character of small communities, and the essential role local businesses play in sustaining community vitality.
Hosted through our Center for Businesses in Transition (CBIT) partnership, ANCA’s annual Familiarization Tours introduce undergraduate and graduate students to the hard-working people behind our region’s micro and small businesses. For many participants, it is their first visit to the Adirondacks — and their first chance to learn firsthand how local small businesses anchor rural communities, create jobs, and contribute to the region’s identity and resilience.
Over the past three years, the tours have connected students with businesses at different stages of the ownership transition process. They meet business owners who are preparing for retirement, navigating succession plans, or have recently purchased an existing business. Through site visits and candid conversations, students gain insight into entrepreneurship through acquisition — an often-overlooked pathway to business ownership that preserves community assets while creating opportunities for the next generation.
The tours are part of CBIT’s broader mission to address the loss of locally owned businesses by supporting successful ownership transitions. Whether helping owners sell on the open market, complete family successions, or explore employee ownership models, CBIT’s network of community liaisons and partners work to keep businesses — and the essential services, desired amenities, and vibrant, welcoming spaces they provide — rooted in North Country communities.
The relationships built through these tours continue long after the visits end. Ithaca College students have become enthusiastic volunteers at ANCA’s annual Bike the Barns event, while a growing partnership with Syracuse University is shaping the development of a three-credit course centered on business transitions and rural economic development.
By connecting younger generations with real-world examples of business ownership and succession, CBIT is helping cultivate a broader understanding of the critical role small businesses play in the long-time viability of our one-of-a-kind region.
Photos: 2025 CBIT Familiarization Tours brought Syracuse University students to local businesses including Coakley’s Home and Hardware and St. Regis Canoe Outfitters in Saranac Lake, New York.