B-School Boot Camp In The Big Easy
NEW YORK - Last summer Woodrow J. Wilson Jr. was paying the bills wholesaling drugs and medical instruments to hospitals and doctors' offices in New Orleans--until Hurricane Katrina put his inventory under 6 feet of water. That's when the entrepreneur turned to an unlikely source for help: first-year graduate students like 25-year-old Emily Mitchell from Tulane University's Freeman School of Business.
By Mitchell's calculations, flood damage wasn't Wilson's only problem. Even before Katrina, he’d been struggling to launch a new line of clothing that uses fiber-optic technology to flash logos of schools and businesses. So Mitchell and two colleagues suggested Wilson split his company--Gulf South Animated Motion Technologies--into two separate entities: one for medical equipment, the other for clothing. That way, the established business would be shielded from liability in case the flashy duds blew a fuse. Splitting the two lines would also clarify for customers what Wilson was trying to sell. (Wilson is still mulling this strategy while he looks for additional financing.)
“This was not just a learning experience for us," says Mitchell. "We provided them a much-needed service."
Tulane doesn't have Harvard's snob appeal. But while M.B.A. students across the country dust off ancient case studies, Mitchell and her classmates take a mandatory class--called Rebuild New Orleans--that puts them to work in the city’s rebuilding effort.
In the class, students examine past disasters--including the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco and the 1900 hurricane in Galveston, Texas. Then there's all that learning by doing.
“They’re seeing the stresses and strains," says John Elstrott, Rebuild's instructor and director of Tulane's Institute for Entrepreneurship. "It’s been a really good experience for them.”
To find businesses that need help, Elstrott tapped contacts, including Idea Village, a not-for-profit agency devoted to entrepreneurs in New Orleans. Elstrott split his students into teams and paired them with shattered companies plagued by lost assets and scattered employees. Who knows: Some of those students might even end up starting their own businesses in the Big Easy.
Hawaiian native Laceyanne Orr, 27, worked with a tiny film company, Ten18Films, that made most of its money by selling tickets to events such as film festivals. After the storm, movie-ticket sales cratered for several months. Her team's recommendation: Focus less on events and more on peddling Ten18Films’ productions on DVD. The students helped Ten get a DVD about Mardi Gras into novelty shops and liquor stores in the French Quarter in time for this year’s big bash. Meanwhile, Ten's owner targeted music stores including Tower Records and the Louisiana Music Factory.
David Drewek, 30, was charged with helping a new restaurant, Urban Cup Café, get off the ground. Drewek and his colleagues drew up a short customer survey. From the findings, they concluded that Urban Cup should host live music events. They also came up with a new twist on an old rewards program. Instead of handing out punch cards that track purchases, Urban keeps the cards in a box behind the counter. That way, to get credit for a purchase, customers have to identify themselves. As regulars earn free cups, the baristas learn their names, making Urban feel more like home.
For Drewek, the hands-on work is a healthy change of pace from studying financial derivatives and venture capital: “Elstrott’s class made you go out and talk to real people."
It also tapped into his inner entrepreneur. Now, Drewek and two classmates plan to launch a consultancy geared to small businesses in New Orleans. “I want to start my own business one day, sooner rather than later," he says. "I think this is a great opportunity."
