A message to creative and innovative entrepreneurs: Even an economy on the brink of a recession shouldn’t slow you down.
“The right idea with the right planning will find money in good times or in bad,” said Jim Kucher, executive director of the University of Baltimore’s Entrepreneurship Program at the Merrick School of Business.
Kucher and his staff at the university’s Entrepreneurial Opportunity Center have been helping university students and alumni get their businesses off the ground for three years. The EOC took a significant step in its growth an expansion on Thursday, officially opening more than 1,800 square feet of new development space on the first floor of the William H. Thumel Sr. Business Center.
“At the end of the day, this is a lab,” Kucher said Thursday, sitting in the center’s conference room. “This is where we experiment with and test business ideas.”
The space gives the EOC a central location to offer free business coaching, mentoring and residency programs provided to students, alumni and others with existing businesses and to those who want to launch their own business.
About 43 percent of small businesses survive for more than four years after start-up, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration, meaning a majority of small businesses don’t last past four years.
The SBA also reported that 87 percent of companies that receive formal support and coaching can survive the hurdle and contribute to the economy past four years.
“Most ideas are pretty good,” Kucher said. “It’s not the potential of the idea, it’s how you execute it on a daily basis.”
The EOC supports about 40 different business ventures, including a financial services company, a leadership and training services firm and women’s footwear retailer.
Karyn Taylor-Okelo, founder of Sovereignty KO Collections, launched her online footwear company in October 2007. Taylor-Okelo, who wears shoes in sizes 11 and 12, wanted to expand the shoe market for women with large feet. The EOC has helped the company grow and expand.
“They gave me the confidence to move forward with it,” Taylor-Okelo, a business graduate student at the university, said. “There’s constant feedback, and they’re checking your progress along the way.”
