TEN SOCIAL!

Just over a week and counting until TEN's last social event of the tri! The event is designed to feature T-bird entrepreneurs, as well as enable people of similar interests and complimentary skill-sets to meet and network. Come join us at the Thunder Pub from 5-7pm, where we'll have beer, pizza, and new TEN t-shirts -- those with the best ideas, best energy, and best countdowns will be awarded t-shirts! 

Count it down and see you there!


TEN Team

The HIVE -- Episode 2! More Good Things...

Following a great first episode of TEN's "The Hive" -- and fresh off our Mentor-Fest event this past Monday -- we're looking forward to a great second episode of The Hive next Friday (11/12) from 12pm to 1pm in Snell 23!  If you're definitely coming, please email sonam@global.t-bird.edu so that we can plan accordingly for pizza.  Regardless, we hope as many of you can show up as possible...

So who should come?  BOTH aspiring entrepreneurs and experienced T-Birds who want to share their wisdom and industry experience... As many T-birds are working on developing businesses in agriculture, manufacturing, technology, and consumer goods, one of our goals with Hive is to connect people and share the vast Thunderbird knowledge throughout the campus.

Overall, come prepared to share your ideas, your vision, your questions, your dilemmas, and your passion.  With this second event we are progressing towards a deeper dialogue that is necessary to flesh out one's ideas, uncover potential pitfalls, and develop stronger strategies...  Plus, the best contributor(s) will receive one of the new - and highly coveted - TEN t-shirts!

Go crush it,

TEN Team

Create a Business Plan for a Micro-Entrepreneur!

EN and TFA have teamed up to bring you exciting opportunities to create business plans for micro-entrepreneurs!

CREED, a non-profit organization, strives to help create awareness and consult strategies to promote self employment & sustainability among the poorer, Base-of-the-Pyramid people. As part of this initiative, it wants to post business plans for micro-businesses on its website. Micro-business Entrepreneurs can download the plans and start their business. In general, these will be entrepreneurs in poor areas of the world.

CREED would like business plans for the following three types of businesses:

• Egg/poultry business 
• Sewing/Tailoring business
• Craft jewelry business

These are very small businesses. As you can tell, this segment is very different from creating a business plan to be given to an investor. The plan will have to be created keeping in mind the low-income target customers. CREED is looking for basic business plans that would apply to these entrepreneurs in their situation. These plans will be guidelines to help the entrepreneurs manage and grow their businesses. Max, 4-5 pages per plan.

The teams will formed based on a selection procedure from the applications received. We intend to screen maximum 4 students per team. Once selected, the teams will be dealing directly with the Executive Director of CREED to take their projects forward. The expected timeline would be 4 weeks. The team will also be offered a small incentive upon successful completion of the business plan.

So, students who have a mind for entrepreneurship/CSR/micro-finance business, this is an excellent opportunity to hone your business skills! We encourage you to apply.

Please find the application form in the email you received this morning. Interested students must fill in this application and send it along with their resume to finance@global.t-bird.edu.

The deadline for sending in applications is Sunday, 31st October, 11:59PM.

P.S. This is great practice for the Spring Business Plan competition! 

Venture Philanthropy-- DIY Foreign-Aid Revolution

So cool I had to repost... Good find, Karl Palsgaard!

NYTimes:

Venture Philanthropy |
D.I.Y. Foreign-Aid Revolution

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: October 20, 2010

Like so many highly trained young women these days, Elizabeth Scharpf has choices. She could be working in a Manhattan office tower with her Harvard Business School classmates, soaring through the ranks as a banker or business executive and aspiring to become a senator or a C.E.O. someday.

After all, there’s no question that women around the world enjoy opportunities that simply didn’t exist a few decades ago. Yet the women exerting the greatest pressure for change often aren’t the presidents and tycoons but those toiling further down the pyramid, driven by a passion to create a better world. And in particular, a better world for women.

That’s Scharpf’s choice. Now 33, Scharpf was interning in the summer of 2005 for the World Bank in Mozambique, helping local entrepreneurs, when she encountered a business impediment that she had never heard of. It was unmentionable, and thus unmentioned. It was menstruation.

READ THE STORY HERE

Business Plan Competition Dates & Criteria Finalized--Start Moving!

The Thunderbird Entrepreneur Network (TEN) is excited to release the rules, policies, and dates that will govern the Spring 2011 Business Plan Competition presented by TEN and the Walker Center for Entrepreneurship! If you have any questions, etc., please feel free to email me (hegranes@global.t-bird.edu).

As the Business Plan Competition is TEN's flagship event in the Spring, we have put in place a series of events this fall to help better prepare Thunderbirds not only to grow their ventures but also win their share of the $10,000 prize! As such, TEN's main event this tri is Mentor-Fest (featuring a networking session followed by intimate round table discussions with awesome mentors across a wide range functions and industries). If you are interested in attending, please see the TEN page on MTB to sign up and reserve your spot (must apply by 10/23).

Go crush it!

-Jonathan

Now Here's Some Interesting Social Entrepreneurship!

Nanotech tea bag creates safe drinking water instantly, for less than a penny ...

BUZZ FROM THE HIVE

On Friday, October 8^th Thunderbird Entrepreneurial Network organized one of the most awaited entrepreneurship events this fall – THE HIVE. It was an intimate gathering of 15 entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs who brought some great business ideas to the table. Jonathan Hegranes, winner of last year’s TEN Business Plan Competition, shared some extremely valuable information about how he launched his website Turbo140.com. He went over a lot of technical services he had to deal with on Turbo140, including how search engine optimization works, site design considerations, payment solution options, and use of social media (especially Twitter and Facebook). He also shared tips on writing a business plan, the journey from ideation to execution, finding the right employees, strategies to consider before launching the business.

“An aspiring entrepreneur shouldn't be afraid to get their ideas out there - whether by participating in business plan competitions or discussing with classmates. We need to stop being so secretive about our ‘big idea’, “ said Jonathan. “Instead we really need to put ourselves and our ideas out into the world -- it's the only way to get honest feedback, discover new opportunities, uncover gaps in your business model, and most importantly network with people who can help further your idea.”  

Other issues addressed were legal considerations, patent and trademark registration processes, company capitalization, vesting of stock, and the amount of equity to give out to various positions. Another important subject matter was angel investors and venture capital financing. Finally, true to the Thunderbird spirit, there were discussions about how investors’ expectations vary from state to state and nation to nation. “Arizona investors will want you to wear a suit while presenting a formal business plan whereas California investors care more about seeing you demo the product/service - preferably while wearing beat up jeans.”