Compelling and provocative. These are two words students of Chris Hanks hear most often from his lips.
“I’m really big on being compelling and provocative, because it grabs attention and creates passion,” Hanks said. “Say something that resonates so powerfully that you stand apart in a way that you create your own competitive vacuum.”
It’s just the kind of statement you might expect to hear from the director of the new Entrepreneurship Program in the Terry College of Business, who is modeling the program after his in-class mantra of “compelling and provocative.”
The Entrepreneurship Program is a unique initiative that aims not only to teach students about how to start businesses, but to make sure they do.
“I think if you’re serious about entrepreneurship, there’s no better place for that than UGA,” Hanks said. “We have the only program focused on creating successful businesses. We measure success by the number of successful small business that we start.”
Hanks himself has owned handfuls of companies ranging from a coffee house to a publishing business to an e-commerce business. His experiences make for a broad understanding of entrepreneurship, and he’s routinely asked to speak at chambers of commerce and business groups across the Southeast. But it doesn’t stop there.
“We have events every week on campus. There’s a lot of demand,” he said. “And it makes sense. Right now is the best time to start a business. A lot of people try to come up with reasons not to start one, but I always ask ‘why not?'”
Some of Hanks’ talks are open to faculty and staff. One is “UGA Startups” which helps faculty with the process of turning their research into businesses. Another program, “Venture Eat,” brings folks from across campus together to meet over lunch once every two weeks to discuss launching businesses.
“It’s a very informal setting that’s a way to deal with all the demand for people to ask questions about entrepreneurship,” he said. “You’ll have an MIS student and a law student next to each other and the MIS student will need a confidentiality agreement and the law student will need a Web site, and they can do that for each other. So even if you don’t have an idea, you can come in and partner with someone else.”
Hanks began working at UGA in 2007 after six years at Georgia State University, but his credentials don’t stem from academia. He’s lived his lesson plans, from starting two companies (a T-shirt business and a delivery service) while in college at UGA to quitting his corporate job to open a music store franchise.
“Teaching about business models and theories without making them start a company is a little like teaching someone how to swim without ever having them get in a pool,” he said. “So one of the new things we’re doing this semester is that everybody who takes my class will start a business. It’s a requirement.”
Under his guidance, several students are already calling themselves entrepreneurs. For example, a student whose husband serves in the armed forces started Married to the Army (www.marriedtothearmy.com) a Web site for military spouses.
“Other people might think that’s not so much of a success story because it only makes $5,000 a month and it’s not as sexy as something that might incorporate cutting-edge research, but to me it’s a complete success,” Hanks said. “She’s making money, able to stay home with her child and is doing something she loves.”
But that’s not the only story. Last year, the program sponsored UGA’s Next Top Entrepreneur, a contest in which students created businesses that were guided by faculty suggestions throughout the year.
Through the program students created eight different companies that brought in a combined $212,000.
“There’s something about being your own boss that draws people to entrepreneurship, but there’s also a lot of incentive to start a business because in this economy many people become an entrepreneur out of necessity. An aspiring entrepreneur may say ‘I need to make $3,000 by the end of next month or I’ll lose my house.’ I’m confident we could help them start a business to make that happen.”