Summit touts entrepreneurship

By Ronette King
Business writer/The Times-Picayune

When the Idea Village started in the afterglow of the tech boom, its founders hoped to find Internet startups in New Orleans that they could support with some cash and the best free legal and accounting advice around.

Instead of finding the next dot.com idea, the nonprofit business incubator has assisted a wide range of operations, including a performance troupe made up of four dads rapping about peanut butter and jelly, a men’s clothing store in eastern New Orleans and a caterer.

"In the early days we were thinking of high tech-type companies," said Tim Williamson, president of the Idea Village. But the market for venture capital has evolved, and with it the goal of the Idea Village. Now the target companies aren’t in any specific industry. Williamson says he wants to assist any entrepreneurs who can generate quality jobs and significant revenue.

"What we are looking to do is build a community of entrepreneurs and people who believe in them," Williamson said Tuesday.

"The focus is the entrepreneur," he said. "If it’s going to just create five jobs, that’s great. As long as the person is really motivated to do what it takes."

Williamson and David Oreck of vacuum cleaner fame were the featured speakers at Tuesday’s UNO/Hibernia Small Business Summit held at the Hilton Riverside in New Orleans. About 200 people attended the event, which was sponsored by the University of New Orleans and Hibernia National Bank.

To help people with strong business ideas, the New Orleans area needs to build a system that embraces startup businesses and includes venture capital and professional advice from volunteer lawyers and accountants, Williamson said.

This year two new entities joined the Idea Village. UNO and Tulane University both signed three-year partnership agreements to offer services to business owners and build a centralized way for entrepreneurs to access resources offered by various organizations, UNO Chancellor Tim Ryan said.

Oreck epitomizes the success that can come from a business startup. With his distinctive Midwestern lilt silenced by a case of laryngitis, Oreck had his speech read from a prepared text by his wife, Jane.

"The world is not waiting for your message," Oreck read. Just building the proverbial better mousetrap isn’t enough to guarantee business success.

"The world first has to get the message that you’re out there," she read.

Williamson also had a list of things entrepreneurs should do to start a business. It included the usual things such as knowing what tasks you do well and delegating the rest to others more capable. Some other advice: "Eat like a bird. Poop like an elephant." The reference to a bird’s high daily food consumption compares with the need for entrepreneurs to ravenously learn everything they can about running their business. The elephant part means being willing to promote that business to anyone who will listen and hone the 10-second pitch that might garner support.

It was Ryan’s job Tuesday to throw in a dose of reality about what entrepreneurs face in the current economy. The New Orleans area economy has improved slightly, growing one-third of a percent from 1995 to 2002. Last year the growth rate, as measured by the number of jobs, was a half-percent. This year Ryan expects the local job market to grow three-quarters of a percentage point, still less than half the rate he’d like to see for a strong economy.

Nationally, Ryan said he expects inflation and mortgage interest rates to inch up but still remain at historical lows.

Small businesses dominate New Orleans employers. Most local firms employ one to four people.

In 1990, more people worked for companies that employed 100 people or more. By last year the reverse was true, and most people worked for smaller companies employing fewer than 100. The number of sole proprietorships shot up 80 percent from 1990 to 2003.

"Our economy is being transformed as major companies cut the number of workers," Ryan said. "The major growth in our economy is by small businesses."

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Ronette King can be reached at rking@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3308.
The Times-Picayune Money Section; Pg. 1