Entrepreneurs start and run small businesses, which make up more than 97% of Louisiana’s employers, providing jobs to more than half of the state’s private workforce in 2012. Therefore, it would make sense for us to cultivate, grow, support and celebrate entrepreneurs in our community—as the future depends on it.
When I traveled on the first Baton Rouge Area Chamber canvas trip to Austin, Texas, in 2003, Austin’s mayor told our delegation the one bit of advice he would share with us to take back was: Decide how you can attract (or keep) that young, budding entrepreneur. So how would you answer that today? Are we delivering and can we measure our success?
Our recent cover story (“An ecosystem for entrepreneurs,” Feb. 3) was on the topic of integrated support for entrepreneurs in the Capital Region. It revealed we have done some things well and some not so well. But it seems to me we have often been lacking in creativity and collaboration—not to mention volume of startups. We have some good players in town, but not a team. That has to change.
Consultants came to Baton Rouge in 2010 and created a blueprint, and an attempt was made to coordinate our efforts, but it failed. We must try again, much like New Orleans has done with Idea Village—a year-round effort. Tim Williamson, head of Idea Village, stated in the article, “Baton Rouge has leadership and activity. Now it just has to find how to organize it in a sustainable way.” He’s right.
We need teamwork and synergy where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. We need our private businesses, banks, universities, city-parish, state government, chambers, the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, Junior Achievement, schools, venture funds and entrepreneurs organizations to join forces to create a pipeline involving junior high, high school, college, incubators and all the way into small businesses—supporting each entrepreneur along the way. This is how we can grow, attract and support that young entrepreneur the mayor of Austin spoke of. We can do it. We must do it.
But we have to set some goals and guidelines and hold folks accountable, especially when it involves public dollars. We can expect an ROI. I noticed in the article the list of incubators and categories reported like “length of stay” and “jobs created” and “rent” and “revenue produced” or “total number of workers employed by tenants.” Some of them had “N/A” listed. These are public entities, and results should be tracked and reported.
I also noticed how some tenants have gone well beyond the normal three-year period to grow and graduate out into the real world. Some went double that or longer in space that should have been available for the new startups. (Don’t we have waiting lists of entrepreneurs? And if not, why not?) If these tenants have not grown enough to survive on their own in the real world after a head start, so be it. That’s the free market. Our incubators are not meant to be office parks that compete long-term with commercial real estate—or subsidize a business for long periods.
There is much potential in our community, and I hope we all want to see it realized, but we have to change the way much has been done in the past. Let’s break down the walls of the silos and work together for the benefit of our region and state. I believe the new CEO of the Research Park Corp., Byron Clayton, can be one to bring other leaders together in our region to make that happen. It won’t be easy.
I discussed the idea of establishing metrics with Clayton, and he feels they can help us understand how to best improve our innovation ecosystem in order to achieve the most impact. He and I also believe that you can’t improve what you don’t measure. But Clayton said there are even more benefits to having metrics for helping businesses.
He told me, “A common set of metrics that measure the scale, pace and impact of innovation across our region is extremely important. These kinds of metrics could help our region capture millions of dollars in additional federal funding, which we could certainly put to good use.”
Building a strong ecosystem for entrepreneurs is needed and long overdue—so let’s get started.
House District 66 endorsement
Voters in Louisiana House District 66 will go to the polls on Feb. 21 for a special election to replace Rep. Hunter Greene, who was elected family court judge. There is a strong field with four bright candidates.
I got a chance to interview and receive a questionnaire from each candidate, and they all have a desire to serve and be part of solving the challenges ahead. They agree on many of the issues, but there are differences.
Buddy Amoroso is the best choice. He knows the issues. His record as a conservative has been consistent, and his actions on the Metro Council have shown he is ready to step into this seat for the upcoming session. On the Metro Council he took action in dealing with issues like software taxes, CATS and EPA regulations. Amoroso will represent the people of District 66 well.
The last chance
The EBR school board now has nine members (changed from the original 12) and is on the search for a new superintendent. This will be the fourth one sitting in that chair in the past seven years. Charlotte Placide served five years and retired in 2009, followed by John Dilworth and then Bernard Taylor.
It seems a little ridiculous, and the public has certainly lost faith as the number of students has fallen over those years and failed schools have been taken over by the state. (That hasn’t necessarily been a bad thing, because the state brings in charter operators who have more resources, less regulation—like no tenure—and a better record of success than our system has had. And who cares who operates the schools as long as children are safe and learning? Isn’t that the real goal?)
Leadership, vision and courage are critical to the success, and all have been lacking on the board and in the superintendent’s office. Now is the time for the board to change that—and the community is watching and waiting. (The board plans to make a hire by April 2.)
This new superintendent better be bold and willing to shake things up, starting with the central office. He or she will need a talented team, talented principals and talent in the classroom—not to mention discipline. That won’t be easy.
It is a troubling sign when I am using New Orleans schools as an example for Baton Rouge, but new figures I just saw show the total public school enrollment keeps growing in New Orleans. Educate Now! reports that in 2009, there were 38,051 students, and this 2014-2015 school year began with 46,409. That’s an increase of 8,358 students or 22% in five years. In 2004 only 2% of students were in charter schools. Today, 92.4% are in charters.
Can Baton Rouge compete with New Orleans and make such progress? Well, the first step forward is up to our school board and the hiring of a new visionary leader. Then they need to support them.
This is EBR’s last chance.
