Entrepreneurs to Share Know-How With Students at E-Day

Students studying entrepreneurship at the Florida State University College of Business will get a glimpse of their future this week as entrepreneurs from across the Southeast arrive for the institute’s 3rd Annual Entrepreneurship Day (E-Day).

E-Day, sponsored by the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship (JMI), will provide 100 or more students with the chance to learn from 17 successful entrepreneurs. The event, which is scheduled to take place on Friday, Sept. 25, will feature a keynote address from Sean Flood, founder of Gotcha Media Group and a Florida State University College of Business graduate, as well as a luncheon that will provide students with individual access to the entrepreneurs.

Flood, who graduated from Florida State in 2001 with a degree in marketing, entrepreneurship and small business management, started an eco-friendly company, The Gotcha Group, to provide a “green” transportation service to students while also providing an innovative advertising option to companies. Prior to founding Gotcha, Flood founded a real estate company in Atlanta that focused on adaptive reuse of historic buildings, which spurred his interest in green organizations.

This year, E-Day isn’t leaving all the entrepreneurship to the entrepreneurs, but instead is handing the reigns over to nine student teams in the first-ever JMI Challenge. The competition provides each team with $25 and a chance to showcase its entrepreneurial skills by creating profit. Teams have had one week to think “outside the box” and create value in an innovative and inspiring way. E-Day will feature a brief presentation from each team, after which the guest entrepreneurs will select a winner.

“One of the best ways to learn is from experience,” said Jim Combs, director of the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship. “Giving our students the chance to learn from these entrepreneurs gives them something no book or lecture ever could.”

Each year, Florida State accepts a limited number of students into its entrepreneurship major where they are trained to run their own business or work for other companies in an entrepreneurial capacity. Typically, these students double-major in entrepreneurship and another business discipline such as finance or accounting.

“The Jim Moran Institute is a one-of-a-kind effort to put students in contact with successful entrepreneurs,” said Caryn L. Beck-Dudley, dean of the College of Business. “The hands-on learning that the institute provides is an integral piece of providing our students with a world-class education that gives them the individual attention they need with a global perspective.”

This year’s E-Day guest entrepreneurs include Kim Williams of Marpan Supply Company Inc.; Yuh-Mei “Liao” Hutt of Golden Lighting; Herb Weiss of Cash to Go Inc.; Robbie Gerson of Gerson Goodson Inc.; Donna Smithey of In Tents Events; Tom Petrillo of The Salon People Inc.; Lynda Keever of USAsset Management; Steve Pattison of Restaurant Services Inc.; Alan Nobles of Nobles Consulting Group Inc.; Steve Roden of LearnSomething; Doug Dunlap of Syn-Tech Systems Inc.; Joe Kelley of GTO Inc.; Bobby Boeneke of Residential Elevators; Tracey Cohen of Target Copy; Bob Leonard of Florida Technology; Mark Scott of Creative Internet Strategies; and keynote speaker Sean Flood of The Gotcha Group.

About the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship:

The Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship provides consultation to entrepreneurs and owners of rapidly growing businesses with annual sales between $1 million and $10 million to make strategic decisions that will enable them to improve their profitability and performance levels.

Since its inception, JMI has directly assisted more than 3,000 businesses throughout Florida.