Nassau to start club for inventors and entrepreneurs

Brian Fried started the Suffolk County Inventors & Entrepreneurs Club 4½ years ago, meeting once a month with people who had ideas for products and wanted to know how to sell them.

Fried said the club's membership has grown to more than 1,000 since it started in August 2007.

Now, the 38-year-old Fried, an inventor since his teenage years, hopes to build the same kind of organization in Nassau. He has been appointed by Nassau Executive Edward Mangano to head a club of the same name as in Suffolk, with the hope of creating new companies and jobs.

"Creating an environment where our residents can turn their ideas into action while creating jobs and economic impact is the cornerstone of our economic development program," Mangano said in a statement.

Fried said he met with Nassau County Industrial Development Agency officials in August, and the officials met with Mangano, who approved the idea of the club.

"This club gives county residents the tools needed to innovate, start and grow enterprises, and put people to work," said Joseph Kearney, Nassau deputy county executive for economic development.

Fried said the art of inventing needs to be coupled with sound business practices. He intends to meet monthly with Nassau inventors and will continue to run the Suffolk club as well. Anywhere from 50 to 100 people have attended the Suffolk group's monthly meetings, Fried said.

The Island is crying for job creation. The state labor department last week reported that the economy in Nassau and Suffolk counties had 9,900 fewer jobs in December than it did the year before, the eighth consecutive month of such declines in employment.

The first meeting of the Nassau club is  at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the County Executive and Legislative Building at 1550 Franklin Ave. in Mineola. Admission is free.