IDEAcorps Brings 50 Top MBA Students to Help Local Entrepreneurs
Laila Morcos
March 23, 2009
This week, six local entrepreneura are getting lots of brain power to help their companies boom. 50 of the country's top MBA students are putting their education to work and volunteering hundreds of manhours to tackle the companys' stumbling blocks.
The students are participating in IDEAcorps, a program of the Idea Village business organization that supports local entrepreneurs. After this week, the company creators should have a plan in place to market their growing ventures, creating a major economic impact in the city.
Naked Pizza is about to take off. "1000 stores across the country and then branch off in international," says Naked Pizza Founder Randy Crochet. That's goal in the next five years. And five other local entrepreneurs have similar goals for their future. How are they going to boom? With IDEAcorp.
"We are excited to be hosting five of the leading business schools from around the country to help a number of New Orleans entrepreneurs, six, to solve the critical challenges facing their businesses," says IDEAcorps Director Daryn Dodson. He says the student initiative is an Idea Village program, a local business organization that targets entrepreneurs and helps them grow in New Orleans. The students will spend the next week helping these local businesses create plans to expand, resulting in economic development in New Orleans. Standford student Ashley Payton is working with the creator of Feelgoodz flip-flops. "We're going to help him with his marketing plan and his supply and logistics plan. He definitely wants to amp up his production in the coming years, and we're going to help him figure out the best way to do that," she says .
The students are also getting connected to other businesses and professionals as well. Google has caught on to IDEAcorps. Tara Canobbio is in town monitoring the students' blog, conducting demonstrations and more. "Then maybe there is actually things that I can do by showing them these free tools and help them further their business that way."
Dozens of volunteers, hundreds of manhours, and an immeasureable amount of ideas, all pro-bono for these six local companies expected to create a major economic impact in the city.
There are six local companies participating in IDEAcorps. Naked Pizza, Feelgoodz flip-flops, Project 3090 -- the first green music festival in Louisiana, Alternative Housing Support Corporation -- which is working to redevelop urban neighborhoods, Sustainable Environmental Enterprises -- which provides affordable alternative energy, and Insite(s), a firm that provides developers with information about new orleans neighborhoods.