Published: 04/06/2020
Center for Business Ingenuity
Gannon University announced on Tuesday that it would be canceling April rent for all tenants within its Erie Technology Incubator. This decision was a result of a unanimous vote by the ETI Board of Directors in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
By canceling rent for the month of April, the Board hopes to assist the 13 companies that occupy office space within ETI by reducing the number of financial concerns these startups and small businesses may be facing during this economically challenging time.
“The Erie Technology Incubator tenants at Gannon’s Center for Business Ingenuity are typically working here seven days a week late into the evening evidencing very little slack in their lives. So, when a disruption like this occurs, it not only changes timelines, deliverables and more, it threatens their future corporate existence,” said Brad Gleason, director of entrepreneurial operations.
“I credit the ETI Board for their enthusiastic and unanimous support of this relief. The ETI occupants feel like a community and as we reached out to each company lead they have been sharing their status and maintaining communication with us as they have started navigating new business strategies to get through this,” he said. “As part of the Gannon community, it has been a privilege to be part of a team that is responding to COVID-19 with solutions.”
One company, Evident Financial, expressed their gratitude for ETI’s continued support and services. “Since we took residency at ETI, the entire ETI leadership team has been helping wherever and whenever needed, especially now in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. In addition to canceling April’s rent, the frequent communications we receive during the crisis have been very helpful… Canceling April’s rent is yet another reason that I’m proud and fortunate to be a client.”
In addition to canceling rent, the ETI staff have been in constant communication with its clients to share resources on small business solutions to debt deferment, new loan programs, and any other initiatives that come from the Federal Government, State Government and Erie community to continue to help them navigate best practices for operating their companies.