College of Business News

A program that provides interest-free loans to Montana entrepreneurs will begin operating this year under a new partnership between the Montana State University College of Business and the Gianforte Family Foundation.

The partnership will enable MSU business students to be involved in selecting entrepreneurs to receive loans from the Bootstrap Montana Loan Program. The program provides Montana entrepreneurs with loans for projects that are expected to provide a fast return on investment. The loans range from $2,000 to $20,000 and should be repaid within one year. Peter Rubicam, director of the Bootstrap Montana Loan Program and a finance instructor at MSU, along with entrepreneurship instructor Gary Bishop, will supervise the students.

“This will be a valuable real-world education opportunity for our students, because they will be exposed to the business analysis and loan evaluation process,” Rubicam said. “Clients of Bootstrap Montana will also have access to pro bono consulting and other resources offered through the Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship.”

The program embraces the business development philosophy of “bootstrapping,” or growing a company with the aid of outside investment or capital. It was funded in 2007 by Greg Gianforte, then-CEO of Bozeman-based Right Now Technologies and head of the Gianforte Family Foundation. The program is intended to create jobs in Montana, bring new revenue into the state and increase the competitiveness of Montana companies. It was previously administered by the Tech Ranch Foundation.

Since its inception, the Bootstrap Montana Loan Program has made 24 one-year, interest-free loans. Borrowers are Montana entrepreneurs who have used the funds to hire employees, attend trade shows or undertake other initiatives.

Bootstrap Montana loan application and review processes are designed for ease and efficiency, Rubicam said. After an initial online application, applicants provide a short presentation to a committee. The committee then makes a decision about the loan within several days.

Small business owners who are interested in the program or wish to apply can learn more by visiting www.bootstrapmontana.org or contacting Rubicam at peter.rubicam@montana.edu or (406) 994-6198.

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Montana State University College of Business instructor Craig Ehlert was recently appointed to the board of examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

As an examiner, Ehlert will review and evaluate applications submitted for the Baldrige Award, which was created in 1987. This is Ehlert’s second term on the board.

The board of examiners is composed of approximately 500 experts selected from industry, professional and trade organizations, as well as education, health care and nonprofit organizations. All members of the board must complete a preparation course.

The Baldrige Award may be given annually in each of six categories: manufacturing, service, small business, education, health care and nonprofit. The award program is managed by the U.S. commerce department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology in cooperation with the private sector.

More information is available by calling (301) 975-2036, emailing nqp@nist.gov or visiting http://www.nist.gov/baldrige. Media inquiries may be directed to Michael E. Newman, NIST Public Affairs Office, at (301) 975-3025 or michael.newman@nist.gov.

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Information and feedback sessions about a new Montana State University College of Business building will be held Monday, June 18, and Wednesday, July 18, on the MSU campus. The informal sessions are planned in order to share information and receive feedback on design concepts for the new building. All interested students, faculty, staff and members of the public are invited to attend.

Both sessions are hosted by the MSU College of Business and will be held from 4:30-5:30 p.m. in Reid Hall 402.

MSU officials announced in April that a site in the northeast section of campus had been selected for the $18-million College of Business building. With the site selected, the university can proceed with architectural design and preconstruction planning for the building, but the 2013 Montana Legislature still needs to approve final construction. With legislative approval, ground could be broken in the spring of 2013 with completion in 2015. The new College of Business building will be roughly 45,000 square feet, three stories tall and a minimum of LEED silver certified.

The College of Business building is being funded by a generous $25 million gift from MSU alumnus Jake Jabs. A native of Lodge Grass and a 1952 graduate of Montana State College, Jabs is president and CEO of American Furniture Warehouse in Denver, one of the top retail furniture companies in the U.S. and one of the largest privately held businesses in Colorado, with sales topping $330 million in 2008 and 1,400 employees throughout Colorado.

Dick Anderson Construction, headquartered in Helena, Comma-Q Architecture of Bozeman and Hennebery Eddy Architects of Portland, Ore., have been selected at the project’s design and construction team.

With roughly 1,200 students, the MSU College of Business offers undergraduate programs in accounting, finance, management, and marketing, as well as minors in accounting, business administration, entrepreneurship and small business management, international business, and the management of information technology. The college also offers a master’s of professional accountancy degree designed to prepare student for professional careers in the field of accounting.

For more information about the sessions, contact Audrey Lee at 994-7026, email audrey.lee@montana.edu or visit http://www.montana.edu/cob/building/index.html.

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Morena Garcia, a Bozeman native and a Montana State University (MSU) College of Business (CoB) senior, has been a silversmith ever since she took an art class that included silversmithing at Bozeman High School. She will also tell you that she has always wanted to be an entrepreneur. Her mother would agree because Garcia’s favorite saying growing up has been, “You’re not the boss of me!”

Garcia started Fly Free Designs—a custom silversmith and jewelry company—while still in high school, but officially registered the business January 2012. Her other passion, being a pilot, inspired her business name, integrating this aspect of her personal story into her artistic pieces. Creating unique jewelry, Garcia views each piece as a message to her customers to “Fly Free,” and customers will often find words of encouragement and love in not-so-obvious places on the pieces. She also adds her personal touch to all the pieces by including a beautifully designed card that states “I just wanted to let you know how much your support really means to me, and that it is truly appreciated. You have helped me find my dreams. Thank you.”

After she started her business, Garcia decided to enroll in the COB, saying that pursuing a business degree has been very helpful for her because she’s needed those skills to run her business. She adds, “You do your own marketing; you are your own accountant. In an art-based industry, you need the business skills to be successful.”

Studying business at MSU has also helped Garcia gain confidence in successfully running her business. The CoB’s emphasis on professionalism has helped her with all the subtleties of running a business, from customer service to networking and marketing her business to others. Garcia believes these skills will especially come in handy as she’s been accepted to participate in Art Fair Jackson Hole with a group of high-caliber artists this summer.

Even though Fly Free Designs has a Website, Garcia has opened a storefront on Bozeman’s Main Street and showcases many of her pieces in other stores downtown. She loves interacting with her customers. “Nothing compares to face-to-face communication and interaction. When you sell directly to customers, and get to see their reactions, hear their feedback firsthand, that information is invaluable for strengthening your business.”

As with all businesses, Garcia says there are challenges, but also great rewards. As an entrepreneur, she says, “It’s not certain. It’s not routine.” She says that owning a business is not like being in school, where you have homework and a syllabus that tells you what to expect. You also have to be dedicated to your business. She says, “You’re your own boss and maybe your boss wants to go to the river and go floating…and you have to be ‘no, no, no’.”

On the other hand, Garcia says that she used to struggle with self-confidence and that with her jewelry she is able to present herself through her work. “To have your peers judge your work, something you have created, and be successful at it is the most amazing feeling that I can describe!”

When asked what advice she would give other students following in her footsteps, Garcia says, “Look at your current state now and try and figure out who you are and then look ahead. It’s all about vision and the future. You can be existing now…but if you don’t think about where you’re going, you’re not going anywhere.”

For more information about the small business and entrepreneurship minor program, please visit our website: www.montana.edu/cob/centernewwest/index.htm.

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The Human Empowered Arts Project (HEAP Bozeman) is a non-profit dedicated to creative upcycling and environmental education. Founded by CoB instructor Anna Hernandez, who is currently serving as the executive director, the program was launched during the 2012 Gallatin Earth Celebration in Bozeman, MT with the help of six MSU students: Mara Johnson, Accounting; Barbara Kohring, marketing and management; Samantha Middlestead, marketing; Hannah Safford, Art and Art Education; Haley Schranck, Architecture; and Jordan Thornton, Visual Art.

HEAP Bozeman’s mission is to empower the Bozeman community through its educational programs, and upcycle workshops while inspiring the community to divert reusable items for the exploration of making the common uncommon. Programs supporting these goals include the Information Tank, which enables collaboration with local environmentally conscious organizations, and the HEAP Cooperative; a program dedicated to the campaign “Think Before You Toss” in partnership with local thrift, pawn and consignment stores.

HEAP Bozeman has five values that they champion:
• Contribution: Promoting the donation of items for reuse, and the enjoyment of collaborative art and environmental projects
• Creativity: Changing the perspectives that frame the beliefs of upcycling and reusability
• Inspiration: Fulfilling our goal to inspire the community through artistic and environmental expression
• Innovation: Providing the community novel ideas to recreate with everyday items, and captivating them towards a new way of thinking about their used belongings.
• Resourcefulness: Demonstrating the options to change a lifestyle through education and conscientiousness. Filling the void by creating activities for the community that direct reusable items towards making the common uncommon.

After moving to Bozeman, Hernandez was fed up with the amount of trash she had to dispose of every week. “Having to see our own garbage, we became avid recyclers and up-cyclers. I want to share the benefits of thinking-before-you-toss by demonstrating it can be satisfying to create with what we already have, and making it convenient for others to change their habits.” Hernandez hopes to share this attitude with her students and Bozeman residents.

HEAP has been gaining ground and has already made a splash at the Hawthorne Elementary Earth Day Celebration, and the Gallatin Earth Celebration both in April, where they manned a display booth created with recycled materials to showcase items that are frequently overlooked and thrown away. With the hopes to have a larger visible project each year, HEAP is looking at participating in this summer’s 2012 Sweet Pea Festival.

Other HEAP projects in the works includes organizing The Thrift Cooperative, which brings visibility to thrift store shopping and donating in conjunction with the start of the fall semester with hopes to curb waste while MSU students move back to campus and The Artist Cooperative, which would provide a place for creative minds to share project ideas, materials and display their artwork.
For more information, visit www.heapbozeman.org or contact Anna Hernandez, anna.hernandez@montana.edu.

You can also read about HEAP in Bozeman Magazine’s article “HEAP Bozeman Creatively Reducing Bozeman’s Waste” and through Montana State News, the website for MSU’s WRIT 373 News and PR Writing Class under “Group Introduces Locals to ‘Upcycling’”.

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