Small business is big business in the Buffalo Niagara Region. That’s why Buffalo Common Council member Joseph Golombek drafted a resolution last week to invite Susan McCartney, director of the Small Business Development Center at Buffalo State College, to present her innovative plan to assist the region’s small business entrepreneurs to the Common Council on Oct. 23.

McCartney caught the attention of Golombek after her plan was detailed in a Buffalo News article on Sept. 24 in which she stated, “Entrepreneurialism is the new economy.”

Her idea suggests that proceeds from the sale of unused hydropower be utilized to establish an investment pool of $5 million annually, which would be allocated for individual grants of up to $250,000. The grants would be awarded on a competitive basis to entrepreneurs who have graduated from college in the past 10 years, set up shop in Erie or Niagara counties and whose business would be involved in one of six clusters economic planners have deemed to have the best potential for the region.

McCartney is scheduled to meet with Finance Committee of the Common Council at 10 a.m. on Oct. 23.