STEUBENVILLE - If you ask Jessica Sherman, "What's the Big Idea?" she might respond with a simple, "What's on your mind?"
Sherman is the regional director of the nine-county MCBI, a regional business incubator program based in Zanesville. Jefferson and Harrison counties are among the participants. Progress Alliance has been designated by MCBI as the economic development hub for Jefferson County.
"The Big Idea" is the name of a contest that will see one entrepreneur in each of the nine counties in MCBI selected to win assistance in bringing their idea into a viable business. Sherman explained the contest during an interview at the Em-Media Center Wednesday.
Sherman said ideas have to be practical enough to lead to a potential business venture.
"How many times have you looked at something and thought, 'I thought of that,'" she said. "This is an opportunity to showcase those ideas into a realistic business opportunity."
In each county, a winner will be selected to earn assistance in developing a business plan, marketing, product pricing and product development. An overall winner will be selected from each county winner, she said.
It's the fourth year the contest is being held in Muskingum County and it's been expanded throughout MCBI's East Central Ohio coverage area.
As an example, she said, one winner was an 18-year employee of a flower shop. The woman had an idea to change the relationship between customers and the shop in selecting bouquets and floral arrangements. For example, a bride-to-be would select flowers from a catalog and make changes that the florist would try to replicate to the young lady's standards. What the florist's employee came up with was a virtual bouquet selector, allowing the client to see exactly what they are choosing on a computer screen. The customer leaves the shop with an exact picture of what they expect their floral arrangement to be, and the florist has an exact copy of what the customer wants in the arrangement.
"We got her in contact with a computer programmer and helped her develop a business plan and marketing and pricing and to choose which trade shows to attend. She's now going to trade shows and marketing her product," Sherman said.
"She knew her industry, and we were able to develop her idea into a realistic business," she said.
Sherman said the goal for MCBI is to see 10 entrants from each of the nine counties, though she thinks that's a conservative number.
MCBI, with help from TechGrowth Ohio, can help find grant money for qualifying businesses that can be built on new, innovative ideas.
Entries are due by Feb. 26. Applications are available at www.mcbi.info or by e-mail to bigideacontest@mcbi.info. Locally, Progress Alliance, (740) 283-2476 or www.theburb.org, has information.
MCBI has grown beyond Muskingum County during the past year. It was founded in 2004 to bring assistance to entrepreneurs in the county, and has partnered with the Small Business Development Center and the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs (both of which are active in various capacites in Jefferson County).
MCBI has helped more than 25 businesses get started and directed another 300 inquiries to various community resources. That is the role of the hub designation given to Progress Alliance, to be a one-stop shop for the county for entrepreneur's inquiries and provide service or referrals.
"Anytime anyone in Jefferson County has a question about business, how to start one or who to contact, their first thought should be of Progress Alliance," Sherman said. "They have the contacts through the MCBI."
MCBI can put the right kinds of businesses in touch with the programs of TechGrowth Ohio, a state program that pays for business assistance for early state, technologically innovative firms and entrepreneurs in Southern Ohio. The concept is aimed at getting businesses in technological fields started in rural Ohio areas.
TechGrowth Ohio, Sherman noted, is an outgrowth of Ohio's Third Frontier, an economic development push set in motion by a commitment from voters at the end of the Taft administration in 2004 to push Ohio to be in the forefront of technological businesses. Gov. Ted Strickland said in his State of the State address Tuesday that the Third Frontier effort has attracted $6.6 billion in investment from outside the state and more than 45,000 jobs have been created.
Sherman said she is hopeful the General Assembly will put the Third Frontier funding renewal back before voters in May and that Ohioans "still believe in small business and entrepreneurs."
That belief in enterpreneurs is part of Sherman's participation as the first speaker in this year's Project Bootstraps series, an effort by the Franciscan University of Steubenville and its Students in Free Enterprise chapter, with sponsorship from the Herald-Star and Progress Alliance, to foster small business startups, to take people beyond the idea stage and into viable businesses they found and own.
Sherman brought Dennis Garrington with her to make a presentation showing potential entrepreneurs the road map to starting a new business.
She said efforts like Project Bootstraps are important because they show people that entrepreneurship isn't just a dream.
"Students can come out of school and owning their own business can be a reality for them. It's not just a pipe dream. They don't have to work somewhere for years and then decide they want to go on their own," she said.
The Project Bootstraps seminar series for 2010 continues Wednesday at the St. Joseph Center at the Franciscan University of Steubenville. This week's speaker will be Robert McDonald, an assistant professor of management and an attorney, who will discuss the legal basics for small business.
The Feb. 10 Bootstraps seminar will feature Jeff Rankin, an assistant professor of marketing at the university, who will discuss entrepreneurial approaches to marketing planning.
On Feb. 17, the 2010 Bootstraps series will wind down with a panel discussion featuring 10 local entrepreneurs.
The sessions all begin at 7 p.m., are free to the public and light refreshments are served.
(Giannamore's e-mail address is pgiannamore@heraldstaronline.com.)
