Entrepreneurship programs from across the country look to the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at California State University, Fresno as a model for creating pathways between high schools, community colleges and four-year institutions. The Lyles Center’s Community College Entrepreneurial Pathway Program, funded by the Coleman Foundation of Chicago, partners community colleges with the Lyles Center in an effort to build curricula, classroom content and community support for students interested in entrepreneurship. Throughout the past semester, representatives from several schools, including institutions from Chicago, contacted the Lyles Center for guidance and advice in creating similar programming in their area. Because this model is the first of its kind and has found success, it can be used as a platform for other areas to replicate. Several Central Valley community colleges work closely with the Lyles Center and the Central Valley Business Incubator (CVBI) with the ultimate goal of producing a higher yield of successful business start-ups in the Central Valley. The initiative hopes to do so by encouraging cooperation and collaboration between the various educational institutions in the area. In the program’s first year, five community colleges became involved. They are College of the Sequoias in Visalia, West Hills College in Lemoore, Colombia College in Sonora, Reedley College and Porterville Community College. Over the past year, four more schools have climbed on board. The newest additions include Merced Community College, Madera Community College, Bakersfield Community College and Fresno City College. To manage the activities and curriculum at each campus, each school has a designated Coleman Scholar. The program provides each scholar with extensive resources and support as well as education in entrepreneurship. The scholars, who are faculty members at the various community colleges, are the driving forces behind the development of entrepreneurship programs on their respective campuses. They lay the foundation for courses and programs with the goal of forming a consistent pathway for students to launch their businesses and continue onto four-year universities. In order to help accomplish these goals, the scholars receive numerous benefits throughout the three year initiative. Throughout the three years, the schools work toward developing solid entrepreneurship curricula, the scholars attend intensive training conducted by the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE),
attend national conferences and participate in workshops at
Fresno State. The scholars align introductory
entrepreneurship courses between the community colleges and
Fresno State and work to create a Collegiate Entrepreneurs
Organization (CEO) on their campuses. The overriding goal is
to implement beginning entrepreneurship courses and CEO
chapters on the community college campus so that students
can seamlessly transition to Fresno State or other four-year
universities and ultimately start their own businesses.
SPOTLIGHT
Local teen found interest in entrepreneurship
Brandon Duran is a junior from Hoover High School who wasn’t too sure about what he had gotten himself into when he was placed in the NFTE program.
“I never thought I would ever be interested in business but now I want to study it in college” said Brandon as he prepared for the NFTE Central Valley Regional Business Plan Competition.
Brandon developed a video game tournament, “Game On!” that he plans to launch in the summer of 2009.
As a gamer himself he understood the need of a tournament that is more accessible to Fresno and Clovis residents.
As Brandon works on promoting “Game On!” he will also be preparing for his next business plan competition for the NFTE
National Competition in New York City, October
2009.
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Adam Mortanian is not your typical college student. In between attending class and studying, he finds the time and energy to run his own company.
 Mortanian started his first corporation at age 20, sold it at age 22 and is now on to his third business venture. While working on his bachelor’s degree at California State University, Fresno, Mortanian founded REMOVE-IT, an eco-friendly water-spot remover. The Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at California State University, Fresno has played a key role in the start-up of Mortanian’s company. Mortanian received an office space in the Lyles Center’s student hatchery. “The office gives me somewhere to run my company,” he said. “I have an organized place where I can work and meet with people. It allows me to portray a professional image to clients and investors.” Mortanian said having access to a board room, state of the art facilities and technology has greatly impacted the success of his company. He added that “The intelligence and advice from the Lyles Center staff has been tremendous.” Mortanian developed the idea for REMOVE-IT while earning money cleaning windows. “I realized that people would pay a lot of money to have water spots removed,” he said. He decided to make his formula “green” to create a product that didn’t exist. Mortanian worked with a chemist to ensure the quality. “It’s kind of like Windex on steroids,” he joked. Now that he has perfected the solution, he is ready to move forward with his endeavor. REMOVE-IT takes pride in manufacturing products that work and are safe for people and the environment. Mortanian said he is committed to using safe practices and ingredients that are eco-friendly and still work. “With REMOVE-IT, we have maximized the efficiency and eliminated the hazard.”
For more information visit www.goremoveit.com
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CREDITS
EDITORS
Timothy Stearns
Genelle Taylor STORIES
Kaley Delarosa DESIGN & PRODUCTION
Helga McCurry
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Kids Invent! hosted a black and white affair on March 13 to recognize the hard work put forth by Slater Elementary School students who produced digital videos during their after school program.
The students presented their short films, commercials and music videos to family, friends, educators and the community. “The event really allowed the kids to show off their creativity and what they have been working on,” Diane Phakonekham, Kids Invent director, said. The Kids Invent! staff transformed the Slater Elementary cafeteria into a red carpet venue. “It was like a night at the movies,” Voeun Dos-Bou, program manager for Kids Invent!, said. Students and their guests walked down the red carpet to find their seats. A VIP section near the front was reserved for students, their teachers and school administrators, including the Fresno Unified superintendent and the Fresno County director of after school programs. The students who produced the videos are in grades 4-6. A few times a week for about two months they worked on their video as part of Kids Invent!’s digital videos afterschool workshop. The program encouraged creativity by allowing students to break away from traditional afterschool routines. The students presented numerous creative videos at the ceremony, including “The Plastic President” and “The Revenge of Santa” and commercials for products such as “Healthy Bars” and “Hot Funyuns.”Guests were also treated to the music videos “Barbie Girl” and “Walk Like an Egyptian.” Kids Invent! is an after school program run through the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at California State University, Fresno, that promotes creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship through various programs and projects throughout local elementary schools. The “Digital Videos” course provides students an opportunity to learn about the aspects of video production from concept to completion. Students learn production development and planning, how to put their ideas on a storyboard and how to write a script. They also learn basic camera operation including aesthetic of composition, angles and conventions, editing and acting skills. Students simultaneously learn technical aspects of camera operation and recording audio and visuals. Students then learn about the post-production and editing processes including digital graphics, special-effects, authoring their work to DVD and posting it to the internet. At the completion of the course, students know how to shoot and edit video and audio and tell digital stories. They are exposed to various careers and job functions in digital media production and develop a greater understanding and appreciation for all aspects of the visual arts. The program also uncovers the extensive collaboration, cooperation and teamwork required to produce digital media. “We are very proud of the work the students have done. It was nice to see them so pleased with their accomplishments at the awards show,” Phakonekham said. “It is wonderful that they are able to learn so much and have fun doing it.”
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Fresno State entrepreneurship students use their education and skills to help local high school students create and manage their own small businesses, learn life skills and gain confidence to be successful. Junior Achievement, a worldwide nonprofit organization, partners business and education communities with volunteers to carry out a mission to inspire young people to dream big and reach their potential. By utilizing hands-on experiential programs, Junior Achievement teaches key concepts such as work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy to students all over the world. Members of Fresno State’s Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO) volunteer their time to work with local high school students who are aging out the foster care system. CEO helps theses students learn skills and gain knowledge that they will need to be successful on their own. “These students are motivated but we are able to give them the extra support they need,” Katie Leonard, a CEO member who is heavily involved in the program, said. The organization meets once a week after school. The overall goal of the program is to prepare the students for the real world by showing them how to generate wealth and effectively manage it, create jobs in their communities and apply entrepreneurial thinking to their endeavors. The CEO volunteers aim to inspire and empower the students to believe in themselves and show them that they can make a difference in the world.
 Students volunteer to be a part of the program. “They come to learn,” Leonard said. “We teach them how to come up with a product or service that they can promote and sell themselves.” The students currently involved decided to plan and host a movie night fundraiser. The CEO volunteers facilitate and offer their help and support but ultimately, the students make the decisions. As a group, the students learn how to raise and manage funding and even sell stocks in their company. They decided to give officers a small salary and will donate a portion of their proceeds back into the foster care system. Although the CEO members work to enhance the high school students’ entrepreneurial skills and knowledge, Leonard said they end up learning as well. “It’s a learning experience for us because the students rely on us to help them succeed,” she said. “We have to use what we have learned in our entrepreneurship courses to help them learn.” Leonard said she hopes the students will take the confidence and knowledge they gain in the program to create their own future entrepreneurial opportunities. “It is so cool to help these students open the doors to entrepreneurship,” she said. “It is inspiring to see them realize that they can make something of themselves.”
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Local high school students are doing more than just homework. They are creating their own companies. NFTE (Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship) allows high school students to participate in a classroom business plan competition at their schools. Through the creation of individual companies, students are able to learn business concepts and practice skills such as negotiation and pricing.
 Fresno High School, Hoover High School, Roosevelt High School, W.E.B. Dubois Charter High School, Carter G. Woodson Charter High School, McLane High School and Sunnyside High School are competing in this year’s competition. The first place winner from each school is invited to compete in the regional finals on May 21, where they attend a finalist banquet and present their plans to a panel of judges. The program encourages the students to employ creativity and thinking as they execute their business ideas. Each student’s business plan must be something that they can feasibly manage at present. “The program aims to get young people to think about how they can start a viable business tomorrow,” program coordinator AJ Johnston said. “For example, they may not be able to open a restaurant right now, but realistically they could start their own lawn-care business.” The classroom business plan competition is part of NFTE’s overall mission to teach entrepreneurship to young people from low-income communities. The goal of the organization is to improve their business, academic and life skills in order to enhance their overall economic productivity. The program teaches entrepreneurship using experiential curriculum that corresponds to high school reading levels and complexity. The program can be implemented as an elective course, in an after school setting or integrated with economic, marketing or other business courses. Because starting a company can be overwhelming to a high school student, NFTE provides college mentors. The mentors, who are Fresno State entrepreneurship students, visit the schools on a weekly basis to help the students brainstorm, crunch numbers, write their plans and prepare for their presentations.
The first place winner at the regional competition receives $500 and a trip to compete nationally in New York. The second place winner receives $300 and the third place winner receives $200. The other top students from each class are given the opportunity to display their businesses at the banquet to gain exposure to their peers and to community leaders in attendance.
From products to services, the students have a wide range of business ideas. Johnston said that many times students aren’t motivated by traditional teaching methods. “This program gives them the opportunity to discover something they have a passion for,” she said. “NFTE allows them to explore options that are more suited for them individually. It shows them that they can do something on their own and be successful,” she said.
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The Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s annual student business plan competition provided three aspiring entrepreneurs with a more viable chance to get their companies off the ground.
Timothy Snyder was shocked to win first place in the final round of the competition. “This is like winning the X-games of business,” he exclaimed. His company, Sunspot Industries (SI), is a snow, surf and skateboard shop with an attached skateboard park. The company’s goal is to allow every person a chance to experience the thrill of riding a board. SI offers affordable gear, high end equipment and everything in between to cater to every client’s individual needs. Additionally, SI is determined to help kids stay off the streets and remain safe with its mobile skate parks set up at various community parks. He added that this opportunity will allow him to establish the start of his company by the summer. “I am looking forward to seeing the whole idea finally come together,” Snyder said. “The results that I am seeing have been made possible through the Lyles Center.” In previous years, the annual competition has offered $10K in prize money. This year, however, students involved in the Lyles Center’s Entrepreneur Mentors Program, were able to raise enough funding to offer $25K.
Snyder was awarded $15,000, as well as an office space in the Lyles Center’s Hatchery and a scholarship to attend the E-Myth Leadership Intensive Seminar, a two-day event valued at $1,500. In addition, he is invited to enter the Draper Fisher Jurvetson $250K Venture Challenge, where he would compete against other top collegiate entrepreneurs for $250K in seed stage funding for his company. Although Snyder now has more resources to help him in his endeavor, he said he plans to stay conservative by beginning with mobile skate shops at various existing parks. “We already bought a used trailer from Craigslist and plan to launch our first mobile shop by this summer,” Snyder said. The competition began with more than 25 competitors and was gradually whittled down to five finalists. Although the winners of the competition have very different business ideas, they have more in common than being students at Fresno State. Each possesses a desire to grow their business and a passion to succeed. Christopher Callison and David Hoff, who claimed second place and $7,500, want to allow consumers to own high-end boats, all-terrain vehicles, recreational vehicles and jet skis without the hassle and maintenance. Their venture, Dreamstakes, will offer fractional ownership stakes to clients, allowing them to purchase equity in the recreational equipment for several weeks use each year so groups of customers can share ownership of the equipment at a more affordable rate. Callison said the winnings from the competition will provide the necessary means to move forward with legal and insurance structuring. “We hope to begin serving clients by the end of the summer,” he said. Third place and $2,500 was awarded to Anthony Nicola. His product idea, MotoXfuel,TM is a premium performance supplement that was designed with the extreme athlete in mind. This product comes in capsule form to deliver only the essential ingredients to the body, leaving out all of the extras such as preservatives, artificial colors, and sugars. “Our combination of a b-vitamin complex, necessary electrolytes and amino acids makes MotoXfuelTM the best replacement to an energy drink on the market,” he said. Nicola is in the process of seeking funding and further developing his business plan. He said the competition was a valuable learning experience which allowed him to expose his company to venture capitalists and the community. Each of the winners expressed excitement in the doors that have opened because of the competition. “I am so grateful to the Lyles Center for all the resources they provide,” Snyder said. “I can’t wait to move forward with my idea. It is all finally coming together.”
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