Students Build Business Plan
Students Build Business Plan
Program Results in Advice for Eco-Park
Sunday, March 23, 2008
By Jaquetta White, Business writer
In a twist on the traditional volunteer efforts that have descended on New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina, a group of 20 students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology didn't gut, paint or rebuild a flood-damaged home when they visited the city for three days late last month.
Instead, the mostly first-year students from the university's Sloan School of Management spent most of their time trying to build something else: a business.
During the three days, they met with entrepreneurs who are trying to develop the Eco-Design and Industry Park, an area in Central City they hope to dedicate to sustainable design and manufacturing. The brainstorming sessions culminated in a detailed, five-year business plan the students provided free of charge.
The students were guests of The Idea Village, a New Orleans-based business incubator focused on helping entrepreneurs develop their ideas into viable enterprises.
The Idea Village was founded in 2002 to connect would-be entrepreneurs with the expertise of consultants, lawyers and other professionals who donate their time. After the storm, the nonprofit began recruiting students and their advisers to assist in growing new businesses.
"What we need to do is connect the talent with the opportunities," said Tim Williamson, founder of The Idea Village.
The Eco-Park came to The Idea Village as a vision that seemed promising but was not fully developed, Williamson said.
"Socially, you can create change. But financially, who is in it? Who is driving it?" Williamson said. "It's a great idea, but someone has to take the paper and turn it into a plan."
That's where the students came in.
The students took the mantle of professional consultants, providing the sort of research, advice and guidance that could cost thousands of dollars in the real world -- an amount out of reach for many start-ups, particularly those in post-Katrina New Orleans, Williamson said.
Kelly Raven, a first-year finance student, called the experience a "baptism by fire."
The students delivered a detailed final presentation to a group that included the Eco-Park board, a representative from the governor's office, and potential investors and lenders.
With four tables arranged to make a square, the students explained what they thought the Eco-Park should be and how its board should set about realizing the vision: Create an industry advocacy association. Market the park first to local "green" companies. Build a retail showroom that would be a destination for businesses and homeowners. Search out foundations and angel investors to contribute startup cash.
Questions from the lenders and investors were pointed.
They asked how the park's founders would attract an executive director with no money to pay him initially. They asked how the fledgling park would generate a return on their investment. And they wanted to know whether New Orleans really could be a viable market for green businesses.
"This was a microcosm: the entrepreneur, the innovator and the networker," Williamson said. "If we do this over and over and over again, that's the gumbo to create innovation."
Among other things, the students suggested that the Eco-Park team hire an executive director with development experience within one to three months and establish the entity with the Internal Revenue Service as a for-profit venture.
"It was helpful in focusing our goals," said Forest Bradley-Wright, one of the entrepreneurs hoping to develop the park. "We had a lot of goals that needed to be translated into actionable models. It was certainly helpful in that respect."
Bradley-Wright said his team plans to implement most, if not all, of the students' suggestions.
"This has been a better-than-expected experience," Raven said. "A long-term goal would be for The Idea Village to ask us back."
"We're building a network of people around the world who understand New Orleans and its challenges," Williamson said. "We are recruiting and retaining the future entrepreneurs."
This week, a group of students from Stanford University will visit the city as part of the same program.
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Jaquetta White can be reached at jwhite@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3494.