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Effort under way to develop technology business in region |
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Tuesday, 25 November 2008 |
By PAUL SIMS
Starkville Daily News
Most people who want to start a business can usually find traditional means support, such as from banks.
They have a history, a track record and some collateral, said Jon Maynard, president and CEO of the Greater Starkville Development Partnership.
But technology companies and other high-risk businesses are “built around an idea.”
“In order for them to get funding, they essentially do what they can. These businesses have the potential for fast growth through which they can generate higher-than-normal returns,” Maynard said.
But to get the funding they need, “they typically have to rely on ‘friends, families and fools,’” he said, referring to a saying common in the technology industry regarding the usual backers of such ventures. “But that is fairly limited in scope.”
The next level of investment comes from what are known as “angel investors.” An angel investor is someone with a high net worth, a working knowledge of business development and a tolerance for high risk, Maynard said. The person also gains an equity in the business, said Dr. Joe Fanguy, assistant director of Mississippi State University’s Office of Technology Commercialization.
Angel investing can take two forms – individual investing and backing through an angel investing network.
“We want to create an awareness of the need to foster the technology development and commercial opportunities through Mississippi State University for the Golden Triangle region,” Maynard said. “We also want to recruit interested individuals who would like to invest in local technologies and promote growth in businesses from within the Golden Triangle.”
The university brings the OTC to the table and what the GSDP brings is “networking in the private sector and to show we’re doing this as a regional” effort, Maynard said.
Those involved in the process have discussed the idea with Columbus-Lowndes Development Link CEO Joe Higgins and networks in West Point will also be contacted for potential involvement, Maynard said.
The Mississippi Innovation Network is an effort to pool statewide resources to encourage innovation-based economic development, and the MTA is connecting capital investment and entrepreneurial resources by establishing these regional partnerships, Fanguy said.
The GSDP and OTC are two of five partners in a $25,000 Small Business Administration grant provided through the Mississippi Technology Alliance. The other partners are the Mississippi University for Women Center for Entrepreneurship; the East Central Mississippi Economic Council and The Montgomery Institute.
The goals of the grant were to host regional meetings focused in on three concepts – entrepreneurship, technology and investment capital – with the idea of promoting entrepreneurship in 17 east central Mississippi counties.
The OTC is the fiscal agent on the grant.
The SBA grant is “what we’re leveraging to foster entrepreneurship and technology development. One component is the angel investor network,” Fanguy said.
During the spring of next year, officials will put some mechanisms in place to begin “support our node of the Mississippi Innovations Network,” Fanguy said, noting that one of those support efforts will be angel investing.
Officials “want people to know there’s collaboration for entrepreneurship already at work and we need to broaden our circles,” Maynard said.
There are several tie-ins for the GSDP and OTC’s more specific partnership.
Two of the action items out of the Targeted and Prepared Community report – developed last year to draw investment and jobs to the community – include developing a support structure for entrepreneurship and establishing Starkville as the technology center in the Golden Triangle.
“Those two things have direct overlap with our office as we attempt to commercialize the university’s” research and technology, Fanguy said.
Other connecting points are the OTC’s objectives, which are to commercialize the university’s research and technology and support entrepreneurship from within the university, he said.
For information on investment and entrepreneurship development, call the Greater Starkville Development Partnership at 323-3322.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 26 November 2008 )
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