Allan Houston Legacy Foundation
Tiffany Joseph dreams of becoming an entrepreneur. With the help of a program supported by the A.B. Freeman School of Business, she is one step closer to making her dream a reality.
Joseph, 22, is a student in the Tulane School of Continuing Studies and one of 25 young entrepreneurs selected for the Allan Houston Legacy Foundation's Business Education and Development Program.
The program, initially implemented in Harlem, N.Y., is offered in New Orleans for the first time this year. It provides six months of entrepreneurial mentoring for young adults from 18 to 25. Program participants learn about the ins and outs of the business world including negotiations, networking, economics and marketing.
The Levy-Rosenblum Institute for Entrepreneurship in the Tulane School of Business joined other supporters such as the National Basketball Association and the technology company Lenovo to kick off the program in January.
Lina Alfieri Stern, director of the Levy-Rosenblum Institute for Entrepreneurship, says that the institute's goal is to teach participants to not only become successful business entrepreneurs, but also social entrepreneurs — those who use their businesses to encourage social change.
"We are partnering with the Allan Houston Foundation to provide social entrepreneurship training and the social entrepreneurship fund," says Stern. "We are providing an opportunity where the participants get to implement a social entrepreneurship program for a real New Orleans business."
According to Stern, participants are working in groups on ways to improve a New Orleans business. During the program, the team with the best plan will implement it using $10,000 provided by Tulane and Lenovo.
At the conclusion of the six-month program, the foundation will present two $18,000 grants to two participants who will start their own businesses. The award recipients also will have their businesses incubated for one year by the Lenovo Small Business Incubator Program, where they will receive help with finances and early business decisions.
"When I found out about this program I knew that it would provide the knowledge and experience that I need to become an entrepreneur," says Joseph, who plans to open a banquet hall in New Orleans. "It's teaching us how to take risks because, after all, entrepreneurship is always a risk."
Stern says the program will run continuously in New Orleans, recruiting a new class every six months.
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