Growing Entrepreneurs in VT

I think the world would benefit a lot from a better understanding of what people need in order to be entrepreneurs, and from creating entrepreneur-friendly environments.  More people might see needs in their community as interesting business opportunities, which could fulfill the need, strengthen community, have a positive impact on the economy, provide jobs (and training) for others, be an example for new entrepreneurs, etc.

So what does a person need to put on that entrepreneurial hat?  That’s a big question, with some logical answers: knowledge, funding, infrastructure, support, mentorship, time for thinking through ideas.  There are many ways into these — microfinance, development projects, education, etc.

Learning how to do entrepreneurship seems to be a big hurdle. In the academic community, many people wonder whether “entrepreneurship”, that je ne sais quoi that makes a company grow, can be taught.  Business schools offer courses in it, but the literature is new and it’s unclear what works and what doesn’t.  Still, the relative safety of the ivy tower makes it a helpful petrie dish for people wishing to try out entrepreneurship, in the classroom or simultaneously with study.

A few years ago, Champlain College hired my mom and I to do a feasibility study and make recommendations on how to structure a program that would foster student-entrepreneurship at the school. They wanted to encourage students with businesses to come to Champlain, and to provide support for students who wanted to start or run businesses while at Champlain. The hope was that these kids would gain experience, not have to close a business they may have already started, and might grow their business here in Vermont, during school and after graduating.  The program, BYOBiz (Bring Your Own Business), enters its third year this fall.

We talked to entrepreneurs, investors, professors, administrators at other schools, students, lawyers, and pretty much anyone else we could think of who would have a hand in the web that interacts with student-entrepreneurs.  The general needs I listed above were all part of the equation, with a number of student-oriented ways of dealing with them.  We recommended that the program include elements that address these needs:

Time.  Students, and especially student-entrepreneurs, are short on time.  So, the program is deeply integrated with the rest of the college so students can do business-oriented work for class or internship credit.

Advice. An inexperienced entrepreneur will make a lot of mistakes.  Mentorship and access to professionals would be an important part of the program, from the moment a student enters the program.  Faculty and other advisers make up what they’ve termed a “simulated board of directors“, who check in with the student at regular intervals to help answer questions, set goals, and provide feedback.  In addition, we recommended that a network of professionals from the local community be formed — people who could provide workshops on basic business tasks, like forming a corporation or setting up accounting.  Or, they could set aside some amount of time to meet with students about specific issues.

Space. Having a business meeting in a dorm room is… well… tough.  And putting a college address that changes each year on business cards would make it hard for people to keep in touch with our young entrepreneur.  From the students we talked to, few of them really expressed a need for office space, but many wanted a good mailing address, access to phones, printers, and some shared space they could work in or sign out for meetings.  And, perhaps most importantly, congregate as a community of student-entrepreneurs.

$. We emphasized the benefits of bootstrapping a company, and access to space, mentors and the occasional lawyer or accountant, takes care of much of a business’s overhead.  But that only goes so far, and providing access to Vermont’s government programs for entrepreneurs, and the investment community, was an important part of bringing the program into the Vermont business community and providing support to those student-entrepreneurs who did need funding.

By the looks of it, the program is going very well, and soon it will start graduating students who have been involved with it their entire college career.  Programs such as BYOBiz are appearing on more college campuses, and it seems to be quite a replicable model.  College investment in resources can be quite low — and after a few years, more experienced students can help to run the program.

I would be curious to see how a project like this works around the world.  While many foundations and NGOs find and work with entrepreneurs, these become distributed networks of business people.  If a group of university students in India or somewhere in Africa were running their businesses out of the same space and with some support, might they grow into strong entrepreneurs in their communities as well?

Wooden Bike Classic

The Wooden Bike Classic starts tomorrow in Rwanda.  It’s part fair, part race, part showcase of the country — with cycling races and events for tourists, it highlights Rwanda’s development and traditions.  It’s run by Project Rwanda, which was started by mountain biking pioneer Tom Ritchey and delivers bicycles to Rwandans, as a vehicle for economic development.  Donated bikes (some designed specifically for the farmers), replace wooden bicycles.

Wooden bicycles are a poor tool for moving goods around the country, but they are part of the culture and history of Rwanda.  A development project could brush them aside, but I think it’s a great lesson that Project Rwanda embraced the tradition instead.

Progress and tradition have been at odds since, well, for a really really long time.  Perhaps it’s even in human nature to look back nostalgically at the good ol’ days.  (The Romantic poets lamented the advent of mass technology, and the effect it had on the old ways — and on the values they saw to be intrinsic to down home practices.)  In international development projects, bringing new devices or infrastructure often comes at a cost of the old ways and the community quality they often carry.  However, projects that bring traditional crafts and methods to Western markets (like this, and this) have proven that there is not only cultural but economic value to keeping them strong.

What I think is especially significant about the way Project Rwanda has gone about their work is the combining of new things, in this case better bikes and the sport of cycling, with a celebration of the old.  And of course they lay on a healthy plug to get involved with the development efforts there.

Web design

I’ve been making web sites since it became common to have them – first with a little personal site hosted by Geocities, and then on the RPI network, my freshman year of college.  I managed the Brown Sailing Team’s web site while I was a competitor there, and updated and created web sites for my first employer, Ignition Ventures.  Managing ONI’s site gave me a sense of Drupal.

These days, I manage the online home of Vajra Yoga, and do freelance web design and web site management.  Contact me at sally [dot] walkerman [at] gmail [dot] com if you’re interested in working with me.

Olympic Sticker-Shock

Seems I’m almost as bad at blogging as I’ve been at keeping a journal.  Blame it on the Olympics, perhaps.  Since NBC made the wise decision of putting footage from all the events online, I’ve been able to watch the sports I actually care about, as well as the sports that are popular.  Unfortunately, unless it’s a top event, NBC didn’t cut any highlights, opting to simply post the 5 hours of Equestrian Cross-Country.  Even with the TiVo-like ability to skip around the video, it can take awhile to get through.

Most of the sports I’ve competed in or follow cost a lot of money — skiing, rowing, sailing, equestrian.  This means that only the most well-funded of Olympic teams field competitors, and only the most well-funded of competitors make the cut to begin with.  Most people I know who take part in these sports are self-conscious about the divide, and in the US, programs are popping up to try to make it possible for kids to experience expensive sports.  But it’s not just about money.  Coaching, education, location, and time are serious factors.  I remember spending hours learning about everything from the life cycles of common parasites to psychology when I was competing horses.

Some have argued that because of these sports’ obvious, and seemingly unbridgeable inaccessibility, they have no place at the Olympics.  There are many reasons why they’re not going anywhere, and I think they belong as part of the Games — and inclusion is only one piece of the Olympic spirit.  But there’s a good point here.  How is sailing a fair sport, when individuals from landlocked, arid countries want to compete but have no way to train?

The number of people with ready access to the Internet is growing.  Could it be, with it becoming more possible to watch footage from any sport, that it might get easier to find eyeballs, and dollars to finance athletes from less affluent parts of the world?  It’s a long shot.  But long shots make the best Olympic stories, so I hope to see it tried.