Monday, September 6, 2010
A grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce is in the process of funding two major programs for The School of Business.
The first program benefiting from funding was developed by Wally Meyer, director of entrepreneurship programs in the school. RedTire LLC is a concept loaning program that will aid in the training of students with hopes of taking over a business. RedTire revolves around the idea of pairing appropriate student teams with retiring business owners in Kansas, with the potential take-over or purchase of that business in mind.
The teams will train under the business’ current owner. After learning the ins and outs of their assigned business, the teams will then be in better position to buy the company from the owner. RedTire will then underwrite and guarantee the loans that the teams take out to buy the company.
Meyer said RedTire will begin by trying to match five graduating student teams to five owners by the spring semester. He said the main goal of the program is to have a portfolio of about 25 companies that students are getting matched with on a regular basis.
“We have received a number of phone calls from businesses that want us to go to work for them already,” he said.
RedTire can be most beneficial to retiring business owners with no means of passing the business on to a family member or business partner; in other words, those looking to sell.
Courtney Petrehn, a senior from Hillsdale in the entrepreneurship program, said teamwork is key in respect to RedTire.
“With a team, you can have brainstorming from different perspectives and you can help each other,” she said. “If the different team members are pursuing their one vision from different perspectives, I think the program could be very effective.”
Meyer said preventing businesses from closing throughout Kansas is vital to maintaining the jobs, taxes and services generated by them.
The second new program receiving grant funding is called “Growing Your Own Business.” It is a four-course program offered by the entrepreneurship program that will give in-depth skills to non-business students wanting to start their own business.
This is Meyer’s first semester teaching the class, made up of 93 students with majors varying outside of the normal business class track.
“The musician can start his own music services business or his own retail sheet music business,” Meyer said. “They will know how to raise capital for the company, how to negotiate the money necessary to be able to start the company, how to keep score so you know what’s working and how to improve the performance of your business – all of the components of being able to start running a business.”
After completing the four-course set, non-business students will receive a certificate of entrepreneurship, which Meyer said should then work in their favor when applying for a business loan.
“This program is potentially even more impactful on the economy than RedTire,” Meyer said. “Every new successful business that starts is a huge contributor to more jobs, better jobs, and more money in the local economy, which is good for all of us.”
Craig Bell, a junior from Olathe majoring in chemical engineering, enrolled in the class this semester. He said it’s approachable for non-business students.
“If terms come up we don’t understand ... He’s open to us saying, ‘Hey, what does that mean?’” Bell said about Meyer.
Lynn Bammel, a senior from Wichita in the entrepreneurship program, said it provides a good opportunity for those with little business education.
“The classes are not conventional," she said."It’s very hands-on. It’s like, ‘Here’s a project, go do it, and we’ll talk about it.’”
The School of Business, specifically the school’s entrepreneurship program, earned this Department of Commerce grant once before two years ago. Meyer said both of the new programs were jump-started by the first program, but the new grant will fund the program even further since its turning operational.
“We were able to demonstrate, for the first two years, that we were able to work on projects that would generate millions of dollars worth of economic value for the state of Kansas,” Meyer said. “And once those plans were implemented, it employed literally hundreds of our fellow Kansas citizens.”
Both the new projects are likewise designed to further generate business in Kansas.
— Edited by Leslie Kinsman
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