A first step to encourage future Tacoma leaders

The team that proposed a company offering a service to provide washable diapers won.

Last Saturday, thus began an effort to gather interested South Sound college students into a group to be known as the Tacoma Entrepreneurs Network.

Organized by Lynnette Claire, an associate professor at the University of Puget Sound, Saturday’s event – called Innovate! Create! – hosted 23 UPS and University of Washington Tacoma students randomly placed into six teams.

They would have three hours to create a company that would solve a problem, and then they would be asked to present that solution to a panel of judges.

The problem concerned reduction of waste whether through recycling, disposal in landfills or other means.

The overall solution beyond Saturday, as Claire explained, is entrepreneurship.

Following the day’s competition at UPS, she hopes to foster a future for young entrepreneurs in the South Sound.

“When I came here in 2005, this was the kind of community I wanted to be a part of,” she said, as the teams settled at their tables and began developing their presentations.

“This was a place where people talked about growth,” she said. “I asked myself, ‘How can I make an impact? How do I help?’ I spent several years trying to figure that out.”

She wondered about the number of small- to medium-sized businesses in Tacoma – specifically, businesses that had been in place from one to five years, had five to 100 employees and annual revenue of $500,000 or more.

Go ahead, take a guess.

She found 504.

“People don’t think of Tacoma as a great place to start a business,” she said. “Why not?”

So she thought, well, “What we need is an entrepreneur network.”

She envisions a community-based network of students from UPS, UWT, Pacific Lutheran University and The Evergreen State College.

“Wouldn’t it be exciting to do this with all the four-year schools here?” she asked.

She expects to follow Saturday’s competition with a series of events including a “Dine With an Entrepreneur” meal and a “Bootstrapping 101” meeting where successful business owners will discuss financing.

Her students – she teaches entrepreneurship – are developing a network website. Students from UPS will be making visits to other campuses to discuss the network.

“I’ve already identified some students who will be starting momentum at UWT,” she said.

And not all students study business.

“This has to be interdisciplinary to succeed,” Claire said.

She hopes the network will, by next March, count organized groups at all four schools.

“We’ll kick this off with no form, and let the students start getting excited, and start student clubs, and find advisors.”

She looks out across the rotunda at the UPS student center, at the students with their laptops sit discussing solutions.

“This is the future,” Claire said. “They should know Tacoma is a good place for entrepreneurship. I want them to know there is energy behind entrepreneurship.”

Three hours later, the teams made their presentation using paper flip-charts or PowerPoint. They called themselves names including “Green Garbage,” “Hard to Waste” and “Green Light Eco Reading.”

Their proposals ranged from collecting methane gas from disused landfills, to developing an app that could scan a grocery product and offer a grade according to the recyclability of its packaging.

Eco Baby, with its idea to offer reusable diapers, won with a proposal that included marketing a portable washboard that could connect to the rim of a toilet.

The winners won iPads.

“I didn’t expect to win,” said Alyssa Bruhn, who was joined on the team with fellow UPS student Gideon Sylvan.

Noting that teammate Sonja Lippert came from UWT, Kyle French of UPS noted that there was no Husky-Logger rivalry at the event.

“We didn’t have time to think of that,” he said.

Said Lynnette Claire, “The energy is here.”

C.R. Roberts: 253-597-8535
c.r.roberts@thenwstribune.com