Calling all 1st – 6th Grade Girls
A group of students from University of Illinois are touring the country this summer with MakerGirl Mobile with a mission to encourage young girls to become leaders in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields through 3D printing. Roane State Community College’s Cumberland Business Incubator will be hosting the group on July 15th. Registration is limited to 20 girls from 1st through 6th grade. Continue reading
Idea generation is an art form. It’s about setting a safe, creative space for people to feel like they can say anything, be wild, not be judged – so that new ideas can be born.
To help you generate ideas, some tips used in traditional group brainstorming follow, setting the boundaries of that creative space.
Creative spaces don’t judge. They let the ideas flow, so that people can build on each other and foster great ideas. You never know where a good idea is going to come from, the key is to make everyone feel like they can say the idea on their mind and allow others to build on it. Pose non-judgmental questions and provocations so that the ideas can get better. Continue reading
We have a number of people who come to the CBI for help in buying a business or to start their own business. Sometimes it’s a short conversation when they come looking for the grant money they believe we have. We don’t have grant funds or grant applications to buy a business or start a business. We don’t have access to a pool of investors who loan money without a sound business plan, or know of any that will loan 100% of the cost of a business even with a great plan. Continue reading
Consumers like to buy locally made things. The July 21-July 27, 2014 issue of Bloomberg Businessweek contains an interesting article about a potential new local trend. The owners of Absolut vodka, the French group Pernod Ricard, are looking to profit from those buyers who will pay a premium for small-batch locally made vodka. They are franchising. Pernod supplies the distilling equipment and the vodka recipe, but the production, sales and marketing and some profits are the entrepreneur’s. Continue reading