Sowing the Seeds of Success
Over the past four years at Juniata, there has been much discussion about incubators, hatching and seed. However, this chatter has nothing to do with poultry. It deals with birds of a different feather - entrepreneurs. The Juniata Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (JCEL) thrives by creating a culture of innovation, creativity and collaboration--a culture that has been resonating among Juniata students, throughout academic departments and in the Huntingdon community.
The first of JCEL's four distinct, yet interrelated, programs to hatch was the Student Seed Capital Fund. This program, unique among undergraduate colleges, has catalyzed Juniatians to transform into business owners overnight.
One of the first student teams to benefit from this fund was Julia Williams '07, from Bedford, Pa., and Brandon Long '07, from Lebanon, Pa. The co-owners of University Jerky LLC, a venture that develops original flavors of beef jerky for college and university markets, advocate the JCEL approach. "Many funding sources for entrepreneurs require a detailed business plan, complete with three-year financial projections," Williams said, "JCEL's Starter Kit is a stepping stone...a much-needed resource for the student entrepreneur."
Ten students have been funded since April, and requests continue to pour in. Marty Balaban '07, from Massena, N.Y., who has proposed a graphic printing business, agrees: "The Starter Kit is opening the door for me as a student entrepreneur." This resource provides the student with one-on-one support from the JCEL team as well as $500 in start-up capital. In lieu of a business plan, student applicants answer a few questions about their competitive advantage and capital requirements, while addressing their personal motivation for launching the venture. The application process by design is geared for students from across academic disciplines. When students are ready to take their business to the next level, JCEL provides additional funding through loans and equity investments.
Even after Long and Williams moved from the planning phase of their venture to product launch, they continued to benefit from the JCEL Starter Kit, which provides a credit toward space in the Sill Business Incubator. This collaborative physical environment, the second of JCEL's programs to develop, allows entrepreneurs to learn from one another while sharing in the overhead costs for the facility.
To date, 10 businesses originating from both the College and the community have operated from the Sill Business Incubator. Best Instrument, Inc., a designer and manufacturer of flowmeters for high-performance liquid chromatography, began in the incubator's rentable office space. The flexibility of the facility allowed the business to evolve into a light assembly area, where product development occurred. Best Instrument, Inc. recently 'hatched' from the incubator into the regional community when it was ready to manufacture on a larger scale.
As the JCEL team worked with entrepreneurs receiving seed capital or operating from the Sill Business Incubator, a more formalized program for supporting these businessvisionaries developed.
In October 2006, the JCEL Video Library, a robust Web-based video library database of more than 600 entrepreneurial video clips from 54 entrepreneurs, was launched. Anna Harris '96, JCEL assistant director, explains: "The database complements the entrepreneurial video libraries available through Cornell and Stanford, because JCEL's product focuses on entrepreneurs in their first few years of start-up." The video archive, developed entirely by students, is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The video Website is http://www.juniata.edu/services/jcel/video/.
"Students in my classes are benefiting from this resource, learning the characteristics of leadership and identifying the skills necessary to become a successful entrepreneur," says Grace Fala, professor of communication. "It is also a wonderful way to help students identify mentors in the entrepreneurial field."
It is this passion for providing previously unavailable experiences for Juniata students that led to a trip to the national Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization (CEO) conference. In 2005, a group of five Juniata students traveled to the CEO conference where they heard from speakers such as Steve Wozniak, who, with Steve Jobs, founded Apple Computer and created the Apple II operating system. The five witnessed other students doing elevator pitches (a 90-second presentation designed to dazzle investors) to secure funding for their businesses.
"The CEO trip was one of the most amazing and motivating experiences of my life," says Travis Paul '08 from Galeton, Pa. Paul is studying entrepreneurship, and owns Boomtown Tables. "With over 1,000 people at the conference, each with the entrepreneurial spirit, every person was willing to help and network with every person there. Juniata has made great strides in the entrepreneurship program and the CEO conference is one of the most valuable assets that Juniata has to offer."
To illustrate the growing enthusiasm at Juniata for entrepreneurship, a total of 15 students, five of whom are freshmen, attended this year's Chicago-based conference. Twelve young entrepreneurs in the Juniata contingent were selected from hundreds of applicants to present "elevator pitches" to a panel of investors. Three of the Juniatians made the finals of the competition, Sarah Roby '09, of Lewisberry, Pa., Cassandra Hale '10 of Altoona, Pa., and Travis Paul. Interestingly, Hale and Roby were the only women to make the finals. The momentum that has arisen from the CEO trip continues to accelerate, as the group has formed a national CEO chapter on campus.
Networking opportunities are beginning to come to campus as well. JCEL started a Visiting Entrepreneur series, managed by Bret Naugle '08, from Quakertown, Pa. Each visiting entrepreneur connects with more than 100 students and represents areas such as the fine arts, information technology and social entrepreneurship.
JCEL is invested in not only impacting the campus, but in extending its resources to the region. The fourth JCEL program provides support for county and regional economic development, through partnerships with the Huntingdon County Commissioners and Huntingdon County Business and Industry. "By concentrating these services in one organization, we enjoy a consistency and competency of operation that does not exist in most other rural counties throughout the state," says Steve Sliver, CEO of Mutual Benefit Group, a regional property and casualty insurance firm headquartered in Huntingdon, Pa.
JCEL's economic development triumphs include securing $1 million for development of a revolving loan fund, support of tourism-related economic development projects and establishing Huntingdon County as one of Pennsylvania's Keystone Innovation Zones.
"Juniata's relationship with Huntingdon has become much stronger because JCEL and its students are involved with the fiber of the community," says Michelle Bartol '84, dean of enrollment.
What's next? Business professor Jim Donaldson '67 redesigned his entrepreneurial lab into a three-credit Introduction to Entrepreneurship course, which is the first of a series of four courses designed for the new POE in Entrepreneurship. Seed Capital funds have been earmarked for student ventures in information technology and the life sciences. Next year, four more professors will join the 10 already integrating entrepreneurship into one or more courses. And in June 2007, Juniata will host a national workshop for other undergraduate institutions seeking to emulate the JCEL model.
By looking toward the future, Juniata has proven to be entrepreneurial in its own right. Many of the center's programs and funding have been self-generated, using few assets from the College's operating budget. As a result, students, faculty, alumni and the community have been impacted in a positive way. As JCEL begins its fifth year of existence, it has transformed from a fledgling enterprise into one of Juniata's programs that is beginning to soar.
If you are interested in learning more about JCEL, or would like to connect with a member of the JCEL team, please visit www.jcel.biz.
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