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May 3, 2012 Leave a comment
The Georgia Southern University Small Business Development Center (SBDC) has organized a seminar on May 8th at Sea Island Bank for small businesses who want to know more about recent Health Care Reforms. To register call Kim Brannen at 912 489 9276.
May 2, 2012 Leave a comment
On April 17, two of Georgia Southern University entrepreneurship classes had the honor of receiving a lecture by Bradley Taylor. Taylor is a software engineer, farmer, systems builder, and parallel entrepreneur who currently resides in Sylvania, Ga. Jim Williams, the Chair of the Advisory Council for the Center for Entrepreneurial Learning and Leadership, hosted Taylor during the lectures.
Following his 15 years as a professional software developer, Taylor started a managed services company that supports high growth web applications for Software-As-A Service companies known as Rails Machine. After five years of success, Taylor decided to take time and explore different professions. He became an EMT/Firefighter, hot sauce peddler, Crossfit coach, and even a Chinese tea specialist before he launched LJ Woods Farm in 2011. Woods Farms focuses on the production of all natural, heritage meat for local markets. In 2012, after observing the market landscape for locally produced food, Taylor launched Revival Foods with a goal to simplify access to local, farm fresh food grown with integrity.
With having such an extensive background, Taylor had several incredible stories to share with the students. He shared what his personal philosophy was with the class. Based on the “7 story topics” for the intrepid entrepreneur, his philosophy is explained below.
1 – Listen to stories, not advice:
According to Taylor, people read through different mediums. However, he believes that does not help answer all the questions in life. There is still a need to “see real life.” He never really saw himself as an entrepreneur, just a computer programmer. Through his experience, Taylor learned asking others about his business wasn’t always the best. These people were not always informed about his company, and therefore did not give him the best advice. He believes the best advice a person can give is through experiences. Whether the idea worked or didn’t work, it will always teach a person something.
2 – Have a story about what you’re not:
Taylor explained to students about his farm, the source of Revival Foods. A producer of local food not processed, Taylor’s farm works to produce locally and sell directly to the consumers. His farm raises Pineywoods, cows of a Spanish heritage. He specifically sought out these cows for something different in the market.
3- Focus on the how, not the what:
He asked the students to think about what their business ideas were NOT about. He explained he liked to focus on the how, not on the what. Taylor gave the example of Subway restaurants. There are over 36,000 restaurants around the world primarily selling sandwiches and salads. Taylor has his own idea of opening a sandwich restaurant which would combine products he produced into a final product. His farm would produce items such as fresh ham and cheese as well as everything else needed in order to make the final product: a tasty sandwich! Taylor explained he wanted to “focus on how I am going to get fresh products and not on what fresh products I am going to get it.” Taylor encouraged the students to think about what their values are as an entrepreneur. In his case, one of Taylor’s most important values is working to create a great product for the public.
4 – Make more money than you spend:
Taylor explained this does not mean that all profit needs to come in one day; it is to be over a period of time. According to Taylor, ‘cash is king’ and a business has to be cash flow positive. He illustrated this by explaining how he started his first business by spending as little as possible until revenues were being generated.
5 – Spend time being in business not working on the business:
Taylor’s first original idea for selling meat was actually setting up a trailer behind restaurants. His first attempt was not successful. He changed locations and surprisingly his sales doubled. Another example given by Taylor was an online store built by his team to sell the company’s products. Their thought process was that people would pre-order items online. However, it turned out that almost no one wanted to buy the products online. That made it harder on the company, on how many products they should produce, what products to order, etc. He told the students that his company is not making tons of money but they are in business and that was what is important. They are spreading the company’s point of view.
6- Banks don’t lend money to people who need it:
The point Taylor made was that he had to get help from someone with a preexisting relationship with the bank to build trust with the bank. Without credibility and trust it is often difficult to borrow money to start a business. Financing was difficult in Taylor’s case and he had to demonstrate that his business would survive on its own, only then was he able to access finance to accelerate growth.
7 – Don’t borrow money to pay for living assets.
Through his farming experiencing, Taylor learned anything that breeds can die. One of his experiences taught him goats can easily die and one unexpected disease and their gone. That was expensive and not a good experience but Taylor pointed out that if he had borrowed money to buy the goats it would have been a lot more painful and difficult because he would not have had an asset. Likewise it is an error to borrow money to pay employee salaries, if they leave or don’t work out then it is a loss that is not easy to recover.
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April 27, 2012 1 Comment
On 25th April the Center for Entrepreneurial Learning and Leadership held its Spring 2012 undergraduate venture panels and business plan competition sponsored by Sea Island Bank. The competition was held in Sea Island Bank’s formal board room from 4:00pm to 9:00pm and six teams presented to compete for the top honor and donated prizes. Judges graded the students’ two page executive summary, their 15 minute presentation and a 30 minute interview.
The first team to present included: Ian Farrell, Andrew Meador, Carl Shubert, Anson Walden and Travis Williams. The team proposed their business ‘Kraken’s Katch’ which was sport fishing charter that had a differentiated product including smaller groups, a glass bottomed boat and a resident chef cooking angler’s catches.
Next up was Misite.com presented by Adel Abudayeh, Chris Atkinson, Jack Barfield, Melinda Butler, Sylvia Kline and Kyle Woodall. The team acted as consultants for E-Zone member Misite.com and explored a business plan focused on providing website and social media development, as well as, services to municipalities in Georgia.
The third group to present was Your Ink Inc. represented by Linda Aguilar Espinal, Stephen Casteel, Amanda Foskey, Marti Kelley and Melvin La Pan. The team presented a business plan for “a website that provides phone applications that will allow tattoo shops and artists to market to their target customers via mobile devices”.
Next in line was ‘Collect n Count’ presented by Omar Elnahas, Kara Odum, Vitria Pinkston, Garrett Sock and Jason Thomas. Collect n Count was a reward and recycling system built into a trash can that was designed to provide universities with a system for providing incentives to recycle.
The fifth group ‘Dip n Drive’ was pitched by Tyrone Betters, Kevin Gattone, Lauren Hawkins, Abby Longwater and Donta McMicheal. “Dip n Drive is an innovative new product that holds condiment containers in a fixed position, making the dangerous activity of driving while eating much safer”.
Last to present were Jaw.co, the team included Jorg Beck, Jonathan Brunson, Bienvenido De Los Santos, Adam Lausch and Sterlon Turner. Jaw.co proposed a company developing and selling a new product “Just Add Water” a collapsible cup that provides a convenient way to enjoy healthy fruit flavored drinks.
…….AND the WINNERS are Your Ink Inc who have won gifts from Sea Island Bank and have the honor of calling themselves the Spring 2012 Sea Island Bank business plan competition winners.
Thank you to our judges: Danny Key (Dabbs, Hickman, Hill & Cannon LLP); Bryce Bunting (Advanced Valve and Instruments Inc.) and Bruce Yawn (retired entrepreneur – Snooky’s). Thank you Steven Sanders and Sea Island Bank for being a great hosts and also many thanks to our sponsors Sea Island Bank and Dabbs, Hickman, Hill & Cannon LLP.
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April 27, 2012 Leave a comment
On the 27th of April, the Center for Entrepreneurial Learning and Leadership held its 8th Venture Concept Exhibition in the College of Information Technology Atrium. Students from two sections of Jim Williams’s (Chair of the Advisory Council) MGNT 3234 entrepreneurship class developed business ideas and presented them in a simulation of a ‘trade show’.
The Venture Concept Exhibition allows students to present venture ideas to students, faculty and the community that they have been working on in their entrepreneurship classes. The students come up with an innovative idea, undertake some basic market research and think through the business concept. They are then invited to pitch their business idea for 5 minutes to a panel of ‘prospective investors’ and develop a trade show stand that demonstrates their business concept. The trade show typically
carries on for 2-3 hours and the students are expected to draw people to their stands and engage in conversations about their businesses.
We are once again grateful to our judges Joan McNeal (Exodus Payment Systems, LLC) and Ellwood G. Ivey (The Invention Ingen LLC, dba.)
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April 25, 2012 Leave a comment
The GSU Small Business Development Center (SBDC) is bringing the nationally recognized Kim Dushinsk to speak at the E-Zone on May 10. Dushinsk is the CEO of the International Mobile Marketing Business Network and President of Mobile Marketing Profits. She will be speaking on mobile marketing campaign strategies. To register go to www.georgiasbdc.org or call GSU SBDC at 912‐478‐7232.
April 25, 2012 Leave a comment
Jeffrey Hollender (pictured left), founder and former CEO of Seventh Generation, challenged the Georgia Southern University community to live a more responsible and sustainable life. Hosted by GSU’s Center for Sustainability and the Center for Entrepreneurial Learning and Leadership, Hollender spoke to GSU faculty and students Monday night to conclude the university’s second annual “No Impact Week.” Director for the Center for Sustainability Dr. Lissa Leege (also pictured left) introduced Hollender.
No Impact Week was dedicated to educating students and the community on how to lessen their impact on the environment. With each day dedicated to a specific issue, events were hosted around campus to illustrate simple ways people can help the environment.
Hollender has been a leading authority on corporate responsibility, sustainability and social equity. His involvement with Seventh Generation helped develop the company into the nation’s leading brand of household and personal care products that help protect human health and the environment. Hollender has also authored six books which demonstrate his passion for changing the negative impact that industry has had on the environment and society. Hollender is currently the founder of Jeffrey Hollender Partners, a business strategy consulting firm, and continues to challenge business leaders to think about the role their companies play in society.
Hollender’s lecture focused on his critical view of the world and the challenges he feels society is facing today. He began by asking the audience, “Does anyone know what the most trusted profession in the U.S. is today?” When he received no response, Hollender then asked, “Does anyone know the least?” After a few comical shout-outs, Hollender revealed the answer to be corporate CEO’s.
Hollender referenced the recent success of U.S. corporations which has resulted in more money and profit than ever before. Nevertheless, it is no secret that only one percent of the population currently controls about 50 percent of the financial wealth. Like many other Americans, Hollender believes this creates a problem. “I worry about our society when wealth becomes the focal point,” said Hollender. “I don’t think it’s good for society or for business.”
According to Hollender, the U.S. society is currently facing many challenges, many of which were a result from the previous generations. “It all comes down to a problem with the way we designed the system,” Hollender said. “I worry that in some ways it encourages wrong behavior that creates social and entrepreneurial challenges that we are now facing.”
This “system” is the way society is organized and governed said Holender. He listed a few examples of concern he finds with this system including: corporate taxes and personal taxes. According to Hollender, the reality is that most small and medium size businesses pay taxes at a rate of 30 to 35 percent while other large companies pay almost nothing. “Last year, General Electric was just one of these companies that did not pay a dime,” Hollender said. “Quite frankly, I just don’t think this is fair.”
Like corporate taxes, Hollender finds problems with personal taxes as well. He mentioned Warren Buffett’s opinion article in the New York Times that sparked much controversy over tax rates. Buffet’s article criticized the U.S. tax system for charging middle-class Americans with a substantially higher tax rate than his own. Hollender, like Buffet, pays a significantly lower rate than most Americans. “I just don’t think it’s fair that people like me don’t have to pay their fair share,” said Hollender.
Although Hollender mentioned on these two subjects, his real concern is with the current trajectory of society. He feels that our society has patterns and habits that encourage negative behavior. “What I worry about is that although we are doing new things, all of things don’t add to enough change quick enough,” Hollender said. “That is really part of my message tonight. We have to do more, and do more quicker. We need to look at our system and figure out how to change it.”
One of the ways Hollender is working to change the system is through the Evergreen Project in Cleveland, Oh. The project is a partnership between several Cleveland neighborhoods and some of the city’s most significant institutions. “Evergreen’s employee-owned, for-profit companies are based locally and hire locally,” Hollender said. “The project works to create meaningful green jobs and keep financial resources within the community.” Because the project has been so successful, there are even plans to create the same type of program in Bronx, N.York.
Hollender closed by encouraging students to take action. “At the end of the day, the effort to put us on a positive trajectory rests in your hands with your choices,” Hollender said. “If you keep thinking of ways in which you can make a positive difference- it will happen. We can change the trajectory we’re on and no one but you will enable that to happen.”
Several GSU students found inspiration in Hollender’s words. Sophomore pre-business major John Elliott attended Hollender’s lecture and found it to be “informative.” Elliott, one day hoping to become a businessman himself, said he plans to incorporate a lot of Hollender’s ideals and values.
Junior marketing major Joanna Harber also attended the lecture and admired Hollender’s focus on community. “One thing that America doesn’t do any more is that it really doesn’t look at values- it looks at value,” said Harber. “That’s one thing that I really liked about him- he doesn’t look at America that way.”
April 25, 2012 Leave a comment
On April 12th and 13th April three students (Lauren Hawkins; Adam Lausch; and, Afton Updike) from Georgia Southern University competed in the first annual “Creativity and Entrepreneurship Slam” hosted by Savannah State University. The slam included students from Savannah State University, Georgia Southern University and SCAD. Students were put into multi-disciplined teams from different universities and asked to develop creative problems to a challenge. The challenge was set by Ms. Kristina Kanspedos from Enterprise Rent-a-Car. Student teams were asked to identify ways in which the company could either develop more sustainable practices and/or communicate to customers that Enterprise Rent-a-Car has the most fuel efficient fleet amongst hire care companies. Lauren Hawkins commenting on the challenge said, “We arrived with no knowledge of who we were going to work with, who was going to set the challenge
or what the challenge would be. It was bit intimidating to start with but all the teams came up with some really good ideas”.
In addition to the challenge Savannah State University’s Center for the Advancement of Creativity and Entrepreneurship organized two speakers to talk about creativity and its influence on entrepreneurship. The first speaker Dr. Sam Hunter, an Assistant Professor of Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Penn State University talked about the challenge of fostering innovation in organizations. He introduced some practical ideas about how to improve personal and organizational creativity and presented some insightful research results. The second speaker Dr. John Osiri, a Clinical Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship at Washington State University discussed the role of creativity in the start-up process. He set a memorable challenge for the audience and invited them to engage in an exercise that involved making and selling a wallet. Adam Lausch talking about the exercise said, “That one was a bit of a surprise and I thought it might be a trick exercise but it really got you thinking about how to make something somebody actually wants to buy”.
Following the guest speeches the students spent the remainder of Thursday and Friday morning working on their creative solutions to the challenge. All sorts of innovative ideas were pitched including an online ticker highlighting the number of hybrid cars rented; a new division of Enterprise offering electric-bikes and Segways; and, a green guerrilla marketing campaign. In 1st place came Afton Updike’s team and 2nd place was awarded to Adam Lausch’s team. Afton said on winning the prize, “As a nursing major I didn’t expect to be on the winning team. This was a different challenge and working with students from different universities was daunting at first but in the end quite fun”. Prizes were awarded by Georgia Power and the other sponsors included the Creative Coast, Shanes Rib Shack, Baldinos Subs and Marcos Pizza.
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April 23, 2012 Leave a comment
On April 5 Joan McNeal and Andrew Kimbell spoke to students in two of Georgia Southern University COBA’s entrepreneurship classes. Jim Williams, the Chair of the Advisory Council for the Center for Entrepreneurial Learning and Leadership hosted the two entrepreneurs during the lectures.
McNeal is a thought leader and a genuine innovator in the field of fraud prevention, whose 20-year background in related industries has culminated in the creation of a number of fraud prevention patents and the start-up of Exodus Payment Systems, LLC. Currently the CEO of Exodus Payment Systems, McNeal explained to the students although she lacks a bachelor’s degree she always knew she would start her own business. Everything started back in the 1980’s when McNeal and her husband had an agency focused on the collection of bad checks from large grocery store chains. Their collection agency grew to be one of the leading agencies in the country. In the early 1990’s, McNeal and her husband began to notice an increase of fraud around the country.
Gangs coming from Central America were getting a payroll check from companies and turning around and reproducing hundreds of them. McNeal could see these gangs traveling from California across country to Georgia and then return back through Florida. The gangs would go to grocery stores such as Winn-Dixie and then to Publix using the same checks. McNeal also noticed an increase in credit card fraud and medical fraud. These increases brought higher prices for not only McNeal, but also for all the American people.
Aware of the harm that these gangs were causing to the country, McNeal started working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to try and put a stop to this. She stayed persistent always believing she would find a solution for the problem. In 1997, at a bad check conference in Las Vegas, Nev., a new technology that could read checks caught McNeal’s attention. The problem was to figure it out if the person who cashed the check belonged to that account.
While at the conference she noticed a CNN newscast showing a new technology called biometrics, the introduction of fingerprint technology paired with a card reader. At that time it took five minutes to read and scan a credit card, but within a year McNeal was told that the time would be lowered to one minute. On her way home from the conference, she had the idea of combing the two ideas together.
McNeal would propose swiping a credit card and then sending the number to her company’s database. This number would then be
hashed into the database. The question of “is that person the owner of that card?” would be examined. That’s when the person matches his/her fingerprint. If approved, and the purchase is online, it goes through a webcam by using a facial scan as opposed to fingerprint. The company checks if the purchaser owns the account being used. McNeal’s idea is about to turn into reality, but before achieving this innovative process she had to overcome a lot of obstacles along the way.
Knowing how hard is to patent a product, Ms. McNeal researched on her own until finally getting the first patent approved in 2004. She called several companies around the country, but received few replies. It wasn’t until a company based in California offered $22 million that McNeal received her patent. After signing the contract, a sum was paid up front with an additional amount being paid in stock of the company and cash. The remaining amount was to be paid when the second patent was approved. Approval for this patent came four years later in June of 2008. However, things changed drastically for McNeal. She discovered the original company in California holding her patent went bankrupt. Learning from this valuable lesson, McNeal recommended to students to always get the money for a project up front. Looking back she wishes that she would have not taken any stock in the company.
In order to have her patent back she had to hire a highly skilled yet highly expensive attorney. McNeal learned it would not be easy to get her patent back. Hedge funds with over $600 million in claims in the company were sending documents to McNeal showing she had collateral interest above them. After solving the problem almost by herself, McNeal decided to develop her own company in 2009.
McNeal finished her speech by telling the students that some qualities are essential in order to open a successful business. According to McNeal, these qualities include: having good family support, including your friends, having the right business partners, possessing good ethics and being able to adapt to change quickly. McNeal started Exodus Payment Systems, with a philosophy of “bringing real-time affordable technology to protect the people in our communities.”
After McNeal’s speech, the Andrew Kimbell began speaking with much enthusiasm the students. Kimbell is the owner of Truax Veneer Company, a manufacturer of premium rotary cut hardwood veneer cross-bands located in Lyons, GA. He began by discussing risks. According to Kimbell, it is normal for entrepreneurs to experience fluctuation with their businesses. He explained most people do not want to take the risks of being an entrepreneur such as leveraging their houses. That was not the case for Kimbell. All he ever wanted to do was to have fun as an entrepreneur. By taking the entrepreneurship program at GSU, he encouraged the students that they would be ready to face the challenges of the real world.
Even though the American economy has been struggling for the past couple of years, Kimbell explained there is still promise for college graduates. With baby boomers retiring, there leaves opportunity for the sale of family owned businesses. This will create tremendous opportunities for current college students to take over these businesses after graduating.
Next, Kimbell worked to explain the difference between a liquid and a non-liquid asset. Holding up a $100 bill, Kimbell described cash as liquid asset and a business as a non-liquid asset. He then told the students to imagine that he was trying to sell one of them the bill during the class period. How would he sell it? According to Kimbell, it costs about 12 cents to produce a dollar bill. Most students could pay around $20. By taking this $20, Kimbell would be making a profit. He explained that there are incredible deals in the market and at auctions. Most people are unaware of the capability of some products and machines and ultimately end up selling them for a lower price than their worth.
Near the end of his speech, Kimbell shared a few of his life stories. He mentioned he attended entrepreneurship classes and served in the military. Afterwards was when he first went to look to work for banks. When Kimbell was job searching, there was no Internet. He would answer the ads of the Wall Street Journal and call people to find offers. One day Kimbell spent many hours talking to one man. He knew that this man had to sell his business soon because he was in need of the money. Kimbell met with him at his company, talked with the customers and employees of the company and ended up buying the company for a much lower price than the company was actually worth it. Kimbell even encouraged the students to bargain when making business deals.
He told the students that he was the lowest paid worker of his business for the past two years because he had to reinvest his money into the business. Kimbell knows this will one day soon change. “You will have to live cheap if you are going to put capital into your business,” said Kimbell. Kimbell finished his speech by telling the students that certain skills are necessary in order to be a prepared entrepreneur for the next five to 10 years. These skills include: technical, accounting, good writing and listening. He also said it is important to have capital for a business.
April 23, 2012 Leave a comment
Presented by:
Ray Wenig, President
Ariel Southeast Angel Partners
Thursday May 17th, 2012, 11:30am-1:00pm
Georgia Tech Savannah Campus, PARB Building, Rm #126
FREE LUNCH PROVIDED
To attend, please sign up at http://fftmay17.eventbrite.com by Tuesday, May 15, 2012.
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About the Presentation:
Some key things that entrepreneurs need to be successful are CUSTOMERS, FINANCIAL RESOURCES and PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS. Angel investors are a potential source of advice, capital and active engagement to support all three of these keys to success. Not all entrepreneurial ventures are right for angels and the angels are highly selective and careful in the businesses they choose to support. However if your business and the angels are a good fit there will develop a relationship that is tougher, stronger and longer than with most other business support services. It will become a two way collaborative relationship that wholeheartedly supports entrepreneurial success for all parties.
This session will present an open and interactive discussion on who, what, why and how Angels can support entrepreneurs. It will focus on the stages of business development where angels fit and the recent changes in the landscape of new business startup financing including crowdsourcing and venture funds. Several actual project examples will be presented and evaluated.
About the Speaker:
Ray Wenig is a proactive supporter of entrepreneurial ideas and companies. He has a history of building entrepreneurial organizations and actively supporting others as an active angel investor. Trained as an Industrial Engineer at MIT, he has a consulting career of creating ideas and solutions in a wide range of industrial, manufacturing and information systems projects. He has had a secondary career in creating, producing and delivering creative management and technical training programs for educational institutions, corporate training centers and management teams. His angel investing career has involved evaluating new technologies, searching for innovative solutions and creative ideas and proactively supporting new businesses that can identify and seize market opportunities and develop viable high growth ventures.
He founded the Hilton Head Angel Partners in 2004 and merged it with the Ariel Savannah Angel Partners in 2006. Through his operations management oversight the membership has grown to over 50 active angel investors with over $4 million invested is 18 companies in a wide variety of fields.
Ray Wenig is an active participant in the Lowcountry Entrepreneurial Alliance, the New Directions Network, the MIT Club of South Carolina and Coastal Georgia, the Angel Capital Association and numerous other business cultivation activities.
April 20, 2012 Leave a comment
The 2012 Center for Entrepreneurial Learning and Leadership Advisory Council was held in the E-Zone on Monday 9th April. Attending from COBA was Dean Ron Shiffler; Department Chair Jerry Wilson; Dr. Dominique Halaby; Dr. Luke Pittaway and Matt Chambers. Advisory Council members attending included: Lori Durden; Lesley Francis; Allen Muldrew; Clint Nessmith; Bill Pittman; Stuart Wiggins; Woody Johnson; Ron Medinger; Ray Wenig; and Jimmy Childre.
Chair of the Advisory Council Jim Williams opened proceedings. The meeting began with a presentation by Dominique Halaby from the Bureau of Business Research and Economic Development (BBRED). Dr. Halaby discussed ideas about Economic Development Administration (EDA) grants available mentioning MIT as an example, where anyone can utilize their $20,000,000 facility to develop a project, and posed the question as to why Georgia Southern University did not have a similar “Fab Lab”.
After Dr. Halaby’s speech, the president of SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise), Matt Chambers updated the attendees on what SIFE had accomplished during his first year as president. He talked about the “Eagle Green Cup” created by SIFE students in a partnership with Eagle Dining Services in order to cut the amount of Styrofoam cups and plastic bottle usage on campus. He also mentioned the effort to raise 8400lbs of food for the Statesboro food bank and $7,000 for the Hearts and Hands clinic. The team also competed at the Regionals competition and got 1st Runner-up. The organization’s next steps are to create a community garden, rebuild the Restore in Statesboro and win the Regionals competition in order to go to the Nationals.
Following Matt, Dr. Luke Pittaway started his annual report on the Center for Entrepreneurial Learning and Leadership. The Center’s main achievement was the launch of the Entrepreneur Zone in August 2011. All the Center’s resources were moved to the E-Zone and five Management classes were held in the building, bringing a total student foot-traffic of 3900 visits. Major events at the E-Zone , have included the Writing and Linguistics Department, Statesboro Downtown Master-plan, the E-Zone Forums, with a total of 39 events, with a total foot-traffic of 859 visitors (between October and December 2012). General awareness of the Center has improved but there is still plenty of work to do in order to enhance awareness of the E-Zone both on and off campus.
The entrepreneurship program is seeing the effects of the launch of the new minor in entrepreneurship and small business management. As of Spring 2012, all sections of classes have filled. There was an increase in the number of students of 6%, totaling 370 (following a 55% increase in 2011). The students in the MBA entrepreneurship classes have undertaken business plans for 3 local businesses for the first time. Chris Welter (Ohio) has been recruited as the new Assistant Professor in Entrepreneurship starting in August 2012.
The Center’s website with the contribution of our journalism intern (Natalie Demarko) had 12,000 unique visits, an increase of 100% from last year.
Dr. Jerry W. Wilson, Chair of Management, Marketing, and Logistics Department spoke after Dr. Pittaway. He was impressed by the achievements taken by the entrepreneurship program over the past year. He mentioned how the university aims to keep growing with a projection of 25,000 students by the first 5 years of Dr. Keel’s presidency, where COBA students’ enrollment sho
uld grow following the same path and contributing to the continued growth of the entrepreneurship program.
The next item of business was a discussion of ideas about entrepreneurship education across the entire university with the basic movement to help students start businesses. The topic of conversation then turned to the next Georgia Bowl competition and the need for more technology based ideas from outside companies who could link together with the Georgia Southern MBA students. The meeting went on to discuss a summary of strategic plans for the Center.
Chair Williams and Dr. Pittaway led the Advisory Council meeting with a strategic planning SWOT analysis for the upcoming year. The group identified some particular strengths and opportunities that will contribute for the growth of the Center over the course of the next five years. All were in strong agreement that the Center’s strengths included its growing reputation, massive activity level, leadership, and its unique marketing niche. Furthermore, some of the recognized opportunities for increased success were the E-Zone building and location, an enhancement of marketing materials, and the wide-array entrepreneurship inspired programs that could be developed in the E-Zone. The analysis of the year identified some weaknesses and threats. For example, the council noted that there are currently not enough E-Zone members to consider it a success and that resource constraints continue. At the conclusion, Chair Williams praised Luke for his successful year and thanked all Advisory Council members for their participation. Williams also recognized each Council Action Committee for updates. Lastly, under new business a motion was unanimously approved to begin semi-annual C.E.L.L. Advisory Council meetings starting this Fall 2012. The meeting was then adjourned.
A sincere thanks goes out to all in attendance for their involvement and contributions to the success of the Center for Entrepreneurial Learning and Leadership.
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