Benefit Corporation Blog Series – TAN 2000
Ojala Naeem • March 7, 2014
Next in our series of Social Enterprise Stories we feature Alan Tan. Alan is the Founder, Chairman, President and CEO of the Connecticut based TAN2000 International Holdings Corporation.
Why are you operating in Connecticut?
I grew up in Rocky Hill, Connecticut and decided to take this as an opportunity to help others who had to confront cultural, financial, and other obstacles to entrepreneurship. Our partners have connections to Connecticut, with most of us growing up here in Central Connecticut, primarily the Rocky Hill-Berlin-New Britain-West Hartford areas, and the rest of our partners having connections to Connecticut such as going to college in Connecticut, or sending their kid to college in Connecticut.
Why did you decide to start a Social Enterprise?
I have always believed strongly in helping others, and over the years, eventually built a like minded team. As such, a socially minded pre-accelerator program was only natural for us to create, since we had the necessary experience, and saw the need of many entrepreneurs, for that helping hand which would lead more businesses to succeed. Given our experience and our firm belief in helping others, it made sense for us to start the world’s first pre-accelerator program versus just simply, “launching… another series of startups, incubator or accelerator”.
What is the community you’re trying to have an impact in?
We are trying to expand entrepreneurship to the masses, particularly underprivileged entrepreneurs who face barriers to entrepreneurship such as cultural barriers, financial barriers, etc. We really believe that entrepreneurship is a right, not a privilege, and access to the knowledge and resources should be available to help bring entrepreneurship to all.
How do you/will you achieve that impact?
We hope to achieve this impact by building partnerships within the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Our flagship program, the RevUp program, reaches out to potential entrepreneurs early through our Outreach Ambassador program and through initiatives such as helping mentor at Startup Weekend events, operating programs to expand entrepreneurship to non-traditional avenues such as student organizations, conferences, and generally injecting innovative thought into activities that ordinarily wouldn’t get people to think about entrepreneurship. We help entrepreneurs who have a dream but don’t necessarily know how to make it happen. Simultaneously, we hope help entrepreneurs who’ve “done it before”, but need a guiding hand to help avoid mistakes that led to issues that the entrepreneur does not want to see again. We want to empower entrepreneurs to follow their dreams, have more options to achieve their lifetime goals, than “just finding a job after college”.
How do you balance purpose and profit?
We balance purpose and profit by utilizing a budgeting process that assures that our mission aligns with our entrepreneurs’ intentions. We ensure that our entrepreneurs are given the best services possible at a price point that is affordable by them based on their individual budget. This ensures that TANHC has enough to pay its personnel and maintain our one on one approach to mentorship while our entrepreneurs are paying the lowest cost possible to achieve their dreams.
What have been your biggest challenges thus far?
One of our largest challenges has been to gain acceptance within the entrepreneurial community, most notably, investors and community-based entrepreneurial initiatives. Somewhat surprisingly, we have experienced significantly more difficulty in Connecticut, when compared to other areas such as New York City, Philadelphia, and Boston.
What is the most rewarding thing to you about operating a social enterprise?
The most rewarding thing about operating our enterprise, is the fact that we know that with every client we work with, we are helping them achieve their dream and build their own home within the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Why do you want to incorporate as a benefit corporation?
Our corporation is already structured in a manner where converting to a benefit corporation would be a natural move for us. Since our mission is to help our community access entrepreneurship, converting to a benefit corporation is only natural for our organization to do.
Dear reSET Community, The Board of Directors today announces the departure of Sarah Bodley as Executive Director of reSET in a planned transition later this year. The Board has immense gratitude for Sarah and all her contributions over the years. Over the last seven years, Sarah has built an amazing foundation for the organization and she leaves reSET in a strong position for continued growth and service. Sarah joined reSET in 2018 and over the past seven years has solidified and expanded reSET’s mission of supporting impact-driven entrepreneurs throughout Connecticut. Here are a few key highlights from Sarah’s time here: Facilitated the acquisition of Collab New Haven, expanding reSET’s footprint to a statewide geography and further enhancing our mission Developed and implemented new core programs including the award-winning Food Incubator, as well as the Food Accelerator, Retail Incubator, Measure What Matters, and Digital Marketing Mastermind Established reSET as a founding partner of the Hartford Culinary Collaborative, enabling greater connectivity and cooperation among food-centric support organizations in our region Doubled the organization’s budget to over 1 Million Dollars, securing multi-year State government grants Won the prestigious Neighborhood Builders Award from Bank of America, and the Leadership Greater Hartford Polaris Community Award in 2022 Established an endowment fund thanks to support from the Zachs Family Foundation to support the long term sustainability of reSET’s mission Over the coming months, we will be continuing our search to find reSET's next Executive Director. Sarah will stay onboard through June to ensure a smooth handoff to our next leader, and will be available as a resource throughout 2026. It is the Board of Directors’ priority, along with Sarah's, to make this transition as smooth as possible to continue the great work Sarah has helped us do over her tenure. The Executive Director’s Job Posting can be found at this link, and we invite you to keep in mind any potential candidates in your community or network that you think might be a great fit. The Board of Directors wishes Sarah the best of luck in her future endeavors. We are appreciative of the dedication and enthusiasm she has given to reSET over the last seven years, particularly navigating our organization seamlessly during the historic times of the pandemic, changes in administration, and an ever-evolving landscape of opportunity for entrepreneurs. We are confident that with Sarah’s support, this transition will be a smooth one for our Connecticut entrepreneurs, partners, and generous supporters. We look forward to continuing our growth and to serving our mission of supporting the social enterprise sector. If you have any questions or concerns during this transition, please don’t hesitate to reach out via contacting admin@resetco.org to get in touch with the board. Sincerely, Ali Lazowski + Dave Menard, co-chairs, reSET Board of Directors
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Listen in to the replay of John Voket of Connoisseur Media's interview of reSET Food Program Manager Katrice Claudio and Program Manager Ndubisi Okeke that aired on Sunday July 6, 2025. They talked about the reSET programs that are enrolling for the fall--the Food Accelerator for food businesses looking to scale, and the Retail Incubator for early stage product-based businesses looking to ramp up for holiday markets in Connecticut. Listen here: https://audioboom.com/posts/8745230-reset-fall-program-preview The interview aired on the award-winning "For the People" show on Sunday, July 6 on WEBE 108 FM, STAR 99.9, WPLR FM and THe VOICE of Connecticut and on the podcast.
Food Accelerator and Retail Incubator Offer Comprehensive Support, Mentorship, and Grant Opportunities for Growing Businesses
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Twelve Food Businesses to Present at Focus @ reSET on Monday April 14th in Hartford
