Miller School February 2018 updates .pdf

Miller School of Entrepreneurship
College of Business
1200 Harold H. Bate Building
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC 27858-4353
252.737.6763 office

To:

Regional Chairs, Miller School Advisory Councils

From: Miller Team
Date: March 1, 2018
RE:

Monthly update for February 2018

Hi everyone. Below is a summary of activities from the Miller School of Entrepreneurship for February.
Although it was a short month, it was very busy. The good news is that we received a lot of media coverage for
our February events. As always, thank you for your continued support of the Miller School of
Entrepreneurship! Please reach out to us if you need anything.
1. First, we want to provide an update on our curriculum. We met with the University Curriculum
Committee on February 22 and received approval for our new courses and revisions for our existing
courses. This is not the final step in the process, but a very important step. We remain on target to have
the BS Entrepreneurship degree ready to launch in Fall 2019. In the meantime, we still have the BSBA
degree with a concentration in Small Business and Entrepreneurship available for any current students.
2.

The Miller School had another great showing at the 2018 National Small Business Institute Conference.
We had two teams finish in 2nd place in the National Project-of-the-Year Competition for their work
with regional small businesses. This marks the 13th time in the last 14 years that an ECU SBI team has
finished in the Top 3 nationally. No other university can make that claim. In addition, Dr. Dennis Barber
won 1st place for his team’s work last year at his previous university in Savannah. We knew Dennis was
a great hire for the Miller School and now he has a national championship. We actually had three
professors in the Miller School (Mike Harris, Corey Pulido, and Dennis Barber) direct teams that placed
in the national competition this year.

3. The final round of the inaugural Pirate Challenge was held on February 22. We had seven finalists
competing for $20,000 in seed money. Our judges were Paul Adkison, David Bond, Connally Branch,
Scott Diggs, and Benny Ward. The winner was Taylor Hicks of Simple and Sentimental LLC, taking
home $12,500 in seed money for her business. Beyond Tutoring, founded by Matt McCall, won second
prize, followed by Nick Venditti and Chandler King, owners of FOWL, coming in third place. The night
was a great success for the signature competition in the Miller School. Below are some media links
about the event.
https://news.ecu.edu/2018/02/26/winning-at-entrepreneurship/
http://www.reflector.com/News/2018/02/24/A-pitch-for-the-entrepreneurship.html
http://www.witn.com/content/news/ECU-student-wins-12500-for-her-Greenville-business-474916833.html

East Carolina University is a constituent institution of the
University of North Carolina. An equal opportunity employer.

www.ecu.ecu/business

Miller School of Entrepreneurship
College of Business
1200 Harold H. Bate Building
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC 27858-4353
252.737.6763 office

4. The Miller School was very pleased to be a signature sponsor for the Youth Entrepreneurship Pitch
Challenge for local middle and high school students on February 21 (see article below). Student leaders
from the Miller School of Entrepreneurship served as judges for the competition. This event showcased
some of our most talented aspiring entrepreneurs in the region.
http://www.reflector.com/News/2018/02/22/Contest-plans-seed-to-grow-entrepreneurs.html
5. Another entrepreneurial pitch competition in February co-sponsored by the Miller School was
CompePITTch'n. This event was open to all entrepreneurs in Pitt County, and featured approximately
$10,000 in prize money. Other sponsors included the City of Greenville, Pitt County Development
Commission, Greenville-Pitt County Chamber of Commerce, Greenville Utilities Commission,
Inception Micro Angel Fund (IMAF), and Uptown Greenville. This event, in particular, highlighted the
local partners involved in creating a regional entrepreneurial ecosystem. This ecosystem is necessary to
develop our entrepreneurial talent and provide them the resources to develop and launch new businesses.
Taylor Hicks of Simple and Sentimental LLC also won this competition.
6. A pilot program we are currently planning is the Summer Innovation Academy. This academy will help
high school students learn more about ideation, customer discovery and other key elements of the
entrepreneurial process based on the Lean LaunchPad model. The 2018 summer program will feature
approximately 25 students from high schools in Pitt County. In coming years we hope to attract the most
promising students throughout the state. This academy will allow us to recruit future students to attend
the Miller School.
7. Our student club, the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization—CEO, continues to host speakers and plan
exciting events. Among the most impactful programs is the entrepreneurship course they are teaching
for 8-12 year olds at the ECU Gorham Inter-Generational Center. This program will culminate in a pitch
competition for these young entrepreneurs where they can win seed money. Other upcoming events
include a hack-a-thon and shark-tank planned for March. David Mayo serves as our CEO advisor and he
challenges these students to become engaged in local and regional entrepreneurial activities.
8. A hallmark of a Top 25 School of Entrepreneurship is its faculty involvement in scholarly activities. The
Miller School is one of the co-sponsors of the Journal of Small Business Strategy (Mike Harris is the
Co-Editor-in-Chief). The Journal published a new special issue in February 2018. You can learn more
about the Journal of Small Business Strategy by visiting its website (http://www.jsbs.org/).
9. Please continue to follow the Miller School on Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook, and be sure
to share these links within your networks. These channels are a great way to share information about our
events. You can find us by searching for ECU Miller School of Entrepreneurship.
10. We are still working on the LinkedIn accounts for the four regional advisory councils. The Piedmont
page is being piloted by Paul Adkison, and we hope to have pages created for the other three regions
very soon. This will help connect members within each advisory council and provide an easy way to
share information. Please be on the lookout.
East Carolina University is a constituent institution of the
University of North Carolina. An equal opportunity employer.

www.ecu.ecu/business