WSU 'incubator' helps students start businesses

Wichita State University's Center for Entrepreneurship is opening a student business incubator in the basement of Devlin Hall.

The incubator, with up to 12 cubicles, will be available to startup student businesses this spring for anywhere from six to 18 months, said Tim Pett, the center's director.

While there, the businesses will have access to WSU faculty, the center's business resources and an advisory board of Wichita entrepreneurs.

When the businesses leave, they will be primed for success in the real world, Pett said.

"We think it's a perfect laboratory-type setting for a student who's got a great idea, but the business model isn't quite there," Pett said.

"It's a logical extension of 'What do we do next?' " WSU president Don Beggs said.

"The advantage I see is access to the center, its supporters and the Barton School (of Business). Lots of times, you need to sit down and discuss the what-ifs."

Work on the incubator has begun in the space formerly occupied by Youth Entrepreneurs Kansas.

When done, the center will include office space, telephone and mail service, Internet access and a conference room for meetings with advisors and bankers.

And all of the college's faculty -- including the entrepreneurship school staff -- will be available to answer questions.

"There are a bunch of forks in the road for a startup, and when an entrepreneur comes to each one, there are decisions to make with consequences that aren't always immediately apparent," Pett said.

"You can't go back. So I think it's a great asset to this program to be able to pair them with a faculty member with expertise or an entrepreneur that's been through it all before."

Great idea, said David Rolph, president of Wichita-based Sasnak Management, which founded the Carlos O'Kelly's restaurant chain.

"When you start out, there's so much you don't know about the tax consequences of decisions you made," he said. "Further down the road they can have an adverse impact on you.

"Having access to people who know which roads out there have the land mines is a huge thing. There are a lot of forks in the road, and some roads can hurt you."

Center for Entrepreneurship founder Fran Jabara said he was excited about the incubator.

"So much of a university is theory," said Jabara, now a private investor.

"This is practice. I think that many educators don't give enough audience to practice, so this is a vitally important addition to the center."

Equally important, Jabara and Rolph said, are the networking opportunities with proven entrepreneurs.

"The school's entire effort is to produce opportunities for people to hook up with financial resources and business wisdom," Rolph said.

"Between the networking and the program, you've got a thorough entrepreneurship program," Jabara said.

"They'll have a nice blend of the theoretical and the actual practice of business and that's wonderful."

Reach Bill Wilson at 316-268-6290 or bwilson@wichitaeagle.com