Mike Thielke is a man with a vision. A big vision.
As Executive Director of the Eastern Shore Entrepreneurship Center (ESEC), Thielke is in process of growing this small non-profit in new directions. The organization started out with a micro focus – helping entrepreneurs one by one, and under Thielke’s direction, it’s shifting to a macro focus – creating, building and supporting a network of entrepreneurs.
The organization’s flagship program ShoreVenture, offers individuals a ten week, 30 hour course in developing skills and understanding how to succeed in small business. So far, four groups have completed this training, and a few small businesses have been launched.
But more importantly, dozens of individuals have made serious, educated decisions about their lives. With a real understanding of what it takes to actually execute a business idea, ShoreVenture graduates are equipped to make smart decisions. Sometimes those smart decisions include such things as deciding against starting a business, or deciding to wait, keep the day job, and plan ahead to build a business at another time in the future.
Thielke measures success by broader measures than simple outcomes such as number of jobs created, or number of new businesses initiated. He sees success when students can analyze their strengths and weaknesses, when they can identify the skill sets they need to develop, when they take a serious look at their lifestyles and make hard choices. Although he says that not all program funders fully appreciate the power of those outcomes, they are starting to understand that to support entrepreneurial growth in a region, sometimes helping people weed themselves out is a huge success.
As ESEC grows, the organization will become less of a traditional service provider, like Maryland Capital Enterprises, the Small Business Development Centers, and SCORE, and more of an administrative umbrella, helping to support existing service providers on the Shore. The organization is taking leadership role in the creation of an entire “entrepreneurial ecosystem,” helping existing service providers to do a better job. Goals include increasing access to capital for all providers, increasing visibility of the Eastern Shore as a place to do business, and encouraging more people in our region to start businesses. As an example of that shift, the ShoreVentures program is now being offered at both Chesapeake College and Wor-Wic – covering more of the Shore, and is being executed by Maryland Capital Enterprises and the Small Business Development Centers.
Thielke envisions an angel fund on the Shore – and he think it’s long overdue, but will require some work in developing infrastructure. He is starting a major business plan competition, with $70,000 in award proceeds. He’s aiming to increase that to $100,000 in awards in the next year or two.
ESEC is partnering with BEACON – the Business Economic and Community Outreach Network of the Franklin P. Perdue School of Business at Salisbury University, whose graduate students will publish an inaugural State of the Entrepreneur Report this spring. The report will help to establish some metrics to evaluate how small business is making progress on the Shore – asking questions such as – are new businesses being incubated? Is it easier to get money to fund new businesses? How are we making progress? – as well as evaluate Shore Counties on their success in working with entrepreneurs to support and sustain an attractive business climate. This evaluation, based on statistics, not opinion, will be widely distributed to all County and municipal leaders so they can understand the impact that their decisions have on small business, something Thielke thinks never even crosses their minds. He sees it as another tool for building an ecosystem of entrepreneurship.
ESLC’s Revolving Loan Fund offers another example of how this organization caters to the real needs of entrepreneurs. Unlike traditional banks, the ESEC fund committee looks at more than simply numbers and collateral when making business loans. Their loan committee is comprised of business leaders as well as bankers, and applicants are given support and mentors in order to help them succeed.
ESEC is launching the first youth entrepreneurship program this spring at the YMCA in Easton. Targeted to middle school students, the program will operate 4 days each week after school for an hour or two. With SCORE’s retired executives as mentors, and a strong curriculum, students will build Microsoft Office skills as they learn to build their businesses. They’ll be using PowerPoint to support their oral presentations, Word to create copy, Publisher to design marketing materials, and Excel for budgets. Thielke would like to see this program extend throughout the Shore in years to come.
Thielke has a big vision, and a lot of momentum. Expect to see and hear more about small business on the Shore in the near future. And if you’re an entrepreneur, expect an invitation to join in the network that he is creating to not only share information, but support new entrepreneurs right here at home.
For more information about the Eastern Shore Entrepreneurship Center, call 410-770-9330 or visit them at www.ventureahead.org.
Scott Bailey says
Mike – Awesome work and I appreciate your vision and execution. I think we would see eye to eye on a lot of things. I help run MassChallenge a non-profit startup competition and accelerator program physically based in MA, but supporting entrepreneurs all over the world and that later split $1M in cash prizes between the top 10 – 20 teams.
Let’s chat, I would love to share best practices and learnings and see if there are opportunities for collaboration and partnership. Again, great work!