ELMSFORD—Westchester County’s Element 46 incubator program has a new home for its latest cohort of budding entrepreneurs at new workspace at Robert Martin Company’s headquarters building at 100 Clearbrook Drive in Elmsford.
Robert Martin announced earlier this month it is leasing to Westchester County 1,500 square feet of fully furnished, wi-fi equipped space for the duration of the six-month incubator program.
“We are grateful to Robert Martin Company for providing this beautiful new space for our incoming cohort. This is the kind of exciting environment that encourages collaboration and inspires innovative thinking,” said Westchester County Director of Economic Development Bridget Gibbons.
“We believe initiatives such as Element 46 are a critical pathway for continuing to reinvest in an already strong economy,” said Greg Berger, president of Robert Martin Company, addressing the 13 startups at the new workspace. “We look forward to the day when we can lease you larger space because your businesses have grown beyond your wildest dreams,” he added.
Berger said it was fitting that Robert Martin provide work space for entrepreneurial ventures, noting that the founders of the company—Robert Weinberg and Martin Berger—were entrepreneurs who turned a small homebuilding company into what is today the largest commercial real estate company in the County.
“Nurturing entrepreneurs is as much about the critical one-on-one interactions with experienced business owners and executives as it is about providing the infrastructure and tools to alleviate those initial challenges of launching a new venture,” stated Laurence Gottlieb, managing director of Robert Martin Company’s life sciences and health technologies initiative, RMC Bio1. “Mingling the cohort with our team will absolutely create new and exciting business opportunities for all of us.” Gottlieb will be RMC’s point person for Element 46.
The Element 46 incubator provides training, mentoring, free workspace and access to pro bono services from professionals, to enable startups to develop their businesses within a network of peers. Entrepreneurs are embedded in an existing start-up community within Westchester. Mentors assist the startups chosen for the program by offering their expertise, time and support. Mentors are hand-picked leaders with specializations in technology, finance, business strategy, venture capital, marketing or other thought leaders.