MGT3120TAWIL

4 ENTREPRENEURS UNDER 30 Y.O. PANEL/ with LAWRENCE FIELD CENTER, EDWARD ROGOFF

Questions:

1)   How did you get started in entrepreneurship, were you exposed to entrepreneurship as a child or did you simply make a decision to be your own boss / and can you elaborate on your first business?

2)   What is the average workday like for you, as an entrepreneur?  Do you work primarily independently or do you have many employees?  How does this compare to other working experience you may have had?

3)   How have you dealt with risk in your business and what are the most crucial things you have done to grow your business?  How important has the business plan been in dealing with risk and growing your business?

4)   What do you think are the greatest opportunities today for students starting out to become entrepreneurs?  In the fast paced world that we live in today, how important has technology and the internet been in assisting your business?

5)   What 3 pieces of advice do you think are most important for entrepreneurs starting out today?

Bio:

Russ Marshalek has worked in new and digital media since the age of 18. At 28, he currently maintains his own event, pr, marketing and consulting firm, RussComm, has executed campaigns for Rolling Stone, Barbara Walters and Top Chef Richard Blais, and is the social media manager for arts and culture touchstone Flavorpill and New York Office Community Sunshine NY.

Philip Bjerknes began his career as Creative Technologist for Gucci, working alongside creative to launch 6 international online stores. From there he founded Coutorture, a network of fashion websites that was acquired by Sugar Inc in 2007. As Product Lead at Sugar, Philip worked to integrate e-commerce, online media, and social gaming into a

seamless platform used by millions of visitors. In 2009 he joined ALLDAYEVERYDAY as Digital Director and partner as part of the company’s re-launch as an NYC creative agency and production company.

Michael Pomposello is a passionate, 20 year old online marketing professional.  Although his background is in technology, he formed his company in 2008 to help mid-size businesses realize and leverage new promotional opportunities online. Over the past two years Michael’s company has developed proprietary search engine optimization technology driving it to become a recognized force in the online marketing space.

Yoni Goldberg is a partner at dGi Management. A Boston native, Goldberg represents Rev Run, The Misshapes, Paul Sevigny, DJ Ruckus, DJ Berrie, Jesse Marco, lastnightsparty.com, and others. In addition to managing recording artists, record producers, and a bevy of celebrity deejays, dGi Management provides consultation to a wide-range of clients including Valentino, Revlon, Moet Hennessy • Louis Vuitton, and ESPN. Goldberg, who graduated from Brown University in 2004 with academic distinction in History and Engineering, has been featured in publications including Cosmopolitan, New York Post, Us Weekly, BlackBook, Time Out New York, and Spin.

David Kuliyev: Electronics have always been a great passion of mine. When I was 8, my dad asked me to help him plug the cables into the back of his 1997 Compaq, and then the nights playing video games became long nights of assembling cold steel, nuts and bolts. Computer parts and electronics, generally, weren’t easy to come by, but as I learned more, I was always able to compromise. The joy I see and display, is just as any automobile fanatic would display of his car, being able to fine-tune every part and customize it to your liking, way beyond manufacturer standards.

As I grew older, I realized such skill was in high demand amongst my family, friends, and acquaintances. This only inspired me further to pursue a career in computer electronics. In high school, I had enrolled in the preengineering program at Midwood High School which had me and twenty other students be given a chance to build robots with Lego’s and circuit boards. During High School, I had also expanded my freelance computer repair business, the only downfall became anxious customer standing over my shoulders as I click the mouse away in their home. Rest assured, house calls have become a distant memory in my mind. Recently, I had moved on to ventures in graphic design and setting up custom systems for retail stores and other commercial locations. Surveillance, networking, and entertainment systems have a place in my heart, but steel, nuts, and bolts will always stay dear.

Dr. Kamal Zafar is a well-respected community leader who for the past 10 years has been actively involved in civic and community issues in Long Island and New York City.

Dr. Kamal was born in Turkey and got his education in many different High Schools because he was traveling in so many different countries with his family, which included his father who retired as a senior diplomat.

Dr. Kamal finished his MD program from Punjab University in Pakistan. Developed General Medicine practice and worked with United Nations to provide population-planning awareness in underserved areas.

Dr. Kamal worked in the fields of Neurology and Orthopedics. He Created a Healthcare Management Group to head the team of managers in developing interdisciplinary approaches for the treatment of Post-traumatic Injuries and created state of the art Orthopedic & Rehabilitation Centers.

Dr. Kamal served as executive Vice President of Mother Rose Foundation, which provides housing and shelter needs to the homeless in New York. He is dedicated to helping the homeless.

Dr. Kamal also dedicates his time to helping victims of Natural Disasters. He has helped a great amount of people that have lost their homes and families in these disastrous situations. For example, he has fundraised for Hurricane Katrina, the Earthquake in Pakistan and Haiti, and the tsunami in several countries in South Asia.

Dr. Kamal is the former Chairman of Pakistan League of USA, which is the one of the largest organizations of the Pakistani American community in North America. Pakistan league represents the most vibrant group of Pakistani Americans who provide significant grass root support for the betterment of our community. The Pakistan League is also involved in Civic culture and is a non-profit organization that does a lot of charitable work.

Currently he is the chairperson of South Asian Political Action Committee and President of Pakistani-American Association of Long Island.

Dr. Kamal has received all types of awards and recognitions from a host of dignitaries and Civic organizations.  He looks forward to continuing to make a positive difference in the lives of hard-working people throughout Long Island and the greater metropolitan area. He truly is a hero and shows it with his great contributions and effort, to help the lives of others.

Al Falack is founder and director of Cookieskids.com, a children’s apparel and toys retailer. Prior to founding Cookieskids.com, Al was vice president of marketing for Cookie’s Kids retail stores, where he helped the company achieve the title of the World’s Largest Kids Department Store.

Al also works as a private marketing and operational consultant to e-commerce companies seeking rapid growth.

He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the CUNY Honors College at Baruch College in New York City.

Eduard Mikinberg graduated from the Macaulay Honors College at Baruch in 2003 as Marketing major.

After a brief internship with Midea Electronics in Guangzhou, China, Eduard began his career at Morgan Stanley in Foreign Exchange Prime Brokerage. He served as a representative and primary point-of-contact for hedge fund clients establishing a “prime broker” relationship with the firm. This role allowed Eduard to develop in-depth knowledge of the operational and settlement lifecycle of Foreign Exchange transactions, which later segued into a process improvement role within the Operations Control department at Morgan Stanley.

In his current role, Eduard is responsible for collaborating with stakeholders across a variety of product groups to implement new processes for monitoring risk activity.

In August 2011, Eduard will leave his role to pursue an MBA degree at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan.

Edward G. Rogoff is the Lawrence N. Field Professor of Entrepreneurship in the Department of Management of the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College, The City University of New York. He is also Chair of the Department of Management. He received a B.A., M.B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University where he wrote his thesis under the supervision of Nobel Laureate William Vickrey. Dr. Rogoff has served as the Academic Director of the Lawrence N. Field Center for Entrepreneurship at Baruch College, teaches, and conducts research in entrepreneurship, particularly relative to minority and later-life issues. Dr. Rogoff has been named the 2010 Outstanding Entrepreneurship Educator of the Year by the United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship. He also teaches at Columbia University and New York University.

He is the author of Bankable Business Plans and co-author of The Entrepreneurial Conversation. His most recent book is The Second Chance Revolution: Working for Yourself after 50, co-authored with David Carroll. He has published in such journals as The Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship, The Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, Family Business Review, and Journal of Small Business Management. Dr. Rogoff was a 2003 Guest Co-Editor of the Journal of Business Venturing. In 2007, he is Guest Co-Editor of the Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship and is currently on the Editorial Board of the Entrepreneurship Research Journal. He initiated and supervised the largest study of minority entrepreneurs in the United States, the National Minority Business Owners Survey, which was carried out at Baruch. In 2007, he led an effort to create a research partnership with Babson College that manifested itself with Baruch and Babson becoming the U.S. partners of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the largest, longest continuing, and most respected international study of entrepreneurship in the world.

After teaching the first entrepreneurship course at Baruch in 1995 and developing its curriculum, the program has grown to be recognized by Princeton Review as one of the top 25 programs in the country and is now one of the largest majors at Baruch. The Field Center for Entrepreneurship at Baruch has been recognized nationally for its excellence and now provides direct services to approximately 2,000 business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs annually. Professor Rogoff has written articles for the New York Times, Forbes, and Newsday, as well as having been a guest on CNN.  Prior to joining the faculty at Baruch College, he was an entrepreneur in the radio broadcasting industry where he headed two companies that operated 23 radio stations throughout the United States.

Panelists

Amy Abrams, Co-founder, In Good Company

ShaSha Dai, Journalist, Dow Jones & Co.

Bonnie Kerker, Assistant Health Commissioner, Department of Health

Karen Lukas, Executive Director, Folk Arts Rajasthan

Maria DiMeo Calvelli, Lawyer/professor

As a group project for Dr. Abe Tawil’s management class, we were faced with an assignment to put together an event about “Successful Women in Business.” It seems as though New York City is filled with successful businesswomen, but getting them to come speak to our students for free doesn’t happen too often or easily. We began our search through the young entrepreneur council, Baruch’s women’s clubs, and websites. We even paid a fee to join a “celebrity contact” website in hopes of recruiting Oprah. Little did we know, the search was not going to be easy. After weeks of attempts and failures, we had a few contacts that gave us some hope. We were persistent with them, and they agreed to come do us the favor. Our group was very lucky to find the speakers that we had at our panel. They were intelligent, successful, inspiring, and enjoyable to listen to.

Before the panel, we were nervous about the speakers showing up, getting along, and performing well. Each of our 5 speakers arrived (on time too), and gave an excellent contribution to the panel discussion. We also had a spectacular moderator, Barbara Lambert from the STARR Career Development Center, who led the discussion (and took some stress off of our shoulders). The panelists’ comfort and understanding between each other was incredible, especially for people who had just met. It reminded me of the same relationship our group members had when we first met, and it made sense that a group with a good relationship can set up a remarkable event such as this one. Our speakers found a connection shortly into the discussion. They began by talking about their road to success. They assured us that it is okay to search for something you’re passionate about. One key point that they illustrated is that the road to success isn’t a straight path, and you may end up somewhere else before finding your place.

Another topic they discussed is the possibility of gender problems in the work place. None of our speakers faced serious gender problems in their career, and they felt that as long as you have the drive, your gender will not stand in your way of success. The only constraint that they expressed for women is the difficulty to balance time while being a mother and a career-oriented woman. A lot of women find their balance over time, and they learn to be flexible. Another key point that they stressed is that it is important to maintain leverage between work and your personal life. You must give attention to both and neglect neither. Our panelists also touched upon the importance of networking. Amy Abrams stated that today, “80% of people find their job through networking while only 20% find their job through a regular job listing.” This number is only increasing so you must always network, look for mentors, be courteous to those who help you, and build your reputation. The speakers ended us off with some words of wisdom and advice for our future – explore the world, don’t be constrained, look for your passions, and implement your creativity! We were extremely happy with the outcome of our event. From our speakers, to the pizza – everything was delightful. Once again, we thank all of our panelists, our moderator, and our audience for making this a successful event.

Guest List:

1.  Bonnie Kerker, Assistant Health Commissioner, Department of Health

Dr. Bonnie Kerker is the Assistant Commissioner of the Bureau of Epidemiology Services at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The Bureau focuses on collecting, analyzing and communicating data to inform policy-makers and program-planners both within and outside of the Health Department. The Bureau also conducts epidemiologic analyses to help further the work of the agency and improve the health of New Yorkers.

After college at Tufts, Dr. Kerker joined the Peace Corps, and spent two years (Aug. 1990 to Oct. 1992) in the Dominican Republic developing community health and education programs in Sabana Alta, a village of 8,000. She has two degrees in public health, a master’s and a Ph.D., from Yale. She joined the city health department in 1995 as an epidemiologist, returned to Yale for her doctorate, and was rehired in 2003 to analyze data and help write a report on health disparities in New York City. She is now Assistant Commissioner of the Bureau of Epidemiology Services at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

2.  Karen Lukas, Executive Director, Folk Arts Rajasthan

Karen Lukas maintained a decorative painting studio in New York City for twenty-four years after receiving a BFA from Mass College of Art and Design with a focus in crafts. Her work drew on a broad spectrum of influences culled from extensive travel and study of traditional decorative arts, textiles, and crafts. Simultaneously, Ms. Lukas founded Folk Arts Rajasthan (FAR) out of a desire to preserve the vanishing folk art, music, and culture of the Rajasthani Merasi (musician) clan. Her vision and artistic ingenuity have initiated and cultivated FAR’s invaluable American support base for Lok Kala Sagar Sansthan (LKSS) FAR’s collaborative partner organization in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India.

3.  Amy Abrams, Co-founder, In Good Company

Amy Abrams, co-founder, has over 10 years of entrepreneurial experience. Through her work over the past decade, Amy has helped hundreds of individuals launch and grow their own businesses.

Amy is also the founder of Artists & Fleas (www.artistsandfleas.com), a marketplace for emerging artists, designers and vintage collectors in Brooklyn. Over the past seven years, Artists & Fleas has helped thousands of artists and designers showcase their creations. Artists & Fleas has been recognized as a major tourist destination in New York City and has received numerous press accolades. Amy also founded Interactive Pipeline, a recruiting firm specializing in placements for start-up companies.

Amy served as a as a Principal Partner at Berkman Fives, LLC, a consulting firm for women professionals and entrepreneurs. Prior to these ventures, Amy worked as Marketing Director at a software company and at an investment bank and consulting firm in Israel. In addition to an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from Fordham University, Amy has a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Amy is currently on the board of the Open Space Alliance of North Brooklyn (www.openspacealliancenb.org/)

4.  ShaSha Dai, Reporter/journalist, Dow Jones

ShaSha Dai was born in Nanchang, China. She holds a masters’ degree from Columbia University. ShaSha has worked for The Wall Street Journal, and has been working at Dow Jones for the past 7 years.

5.  Maria DiMeo Calvelli, Lawyer/professor

Maria DiMeo Calvelli holds a bachelors’ degree in political science from Fordham University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. She currently teaches law at Baruch College and she has practiced law for over 20 years. She worked for Clifford Chance LLP, and worked and made partner at Werbel & Carnelutti LLP and Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe LLP.

Topics which were discussed:

1. Tell me a little bit about yourself and the field of work that you do.
2. Was it difficult for you to find success in your field as a woman? Have you experienced the “glass ceiling”?
3. Have you ever encountered a major crisis in your job? If so, was it ever gender related?
4. Do you feel that being a woman has helped your career growth or hindered it?
5. What is your greatest achievement thus far?
6. How did you start out in your career? What obstacles did you have to go through to get where you are now?
7. Do you find it hard to maintain a steady successful position and also carry other responsibilities of a woman? Do you have time for a family? Children?
8. What advice can you give to other young women who want to get into your field of work?

Charles Fishman

Today was a pretty exciting panel and it all came down to one man, Charles Fishman. My partners and I have been working for about 3 weeks to organize the perfect panel for our Baruch management class. The topic we decided on, suggested by our professor Dr. Abe Tawil, was Wal-Mart and the effect it would have on entering the NYC market. There has been a lot of fuss about this topic behind the scenes in New York Cities top offices, most of which can be found in obscure news articles, so we thought it would be interesting to delve into this topic.

We began by trying to contact Mayor Bloomberg’s office, perhaps we can get a councilman/woman to come join us on the panel. The calls were to no avail. We emailed a local vendor who does quite some business with Wal-Mart, selling a mass amount of goods to Wal-Mart each year. After some persuasion he agreed to join us on condition there would be no news outlet in which he can risk his relationship with Wal-Mart. This man obviously will remained anonymous in this article. Four days before the set panel date, the vendor backed out saying it was to risky for his relationship.

One of my partners had emailed Charles Fishman, author of “The Wal-Mart Effect”, to see if he would be interested in speaking about his book over a Skype call. Mr. Fishman graciously agreed. Finally some progress for me and my partners.

One week before the date, one other partner and I took off from school to travel NYC to find some interesting panelists. First stop: Chambers Street. We went to the City Council office and after luckily getting in without an appointment, met with Council Member Dan Garodnick’s aid. He spoke to us for a few minutes and apologetically informed us there was nothing he can do but we should email the scheduler. And that is just what we did. The scheduler replied back saying the City would have been very interested in sending someone over to participate but unfortunately there is a hearing the same time and she can not spare anyone. Some luck we’re having.

Next, we visited the NY Public Advocates office. After again being graciously welcomed without an appointment by the assistant, we were told to email some other guy who participated in a similar NYU panel and would love to talk with us. So, once again we emailed the contact and once again we were rejected. This time, ignored all together.

We then went up to Target’s NY HQ in midtown, see if they will send a representative. I know, it was a long shot and highly unlikely to happen but we were desperate! Struck out again.

Dejected and most of our hope lost, my partner and I headed back to Baruch after a couple of unrelated stops… (Did you know there are 3 Starbucks in 34th Street Macy’s!!).

As the days weaned on by we attempted to contact all sorts of people that had any far off relation to Wal-Mart to be part of our panel. No success there either.

March 16th finally arrived and apprehensively my partners and I got up in front of the class and introduced our only speaker, Charles Fishman. This was the first time this class was using skype for a presentation so we were also pretty worried something would go wrong. We hit the call button on our computer to connect to Mr. Fishman in his home in Philadelphia, and after some nerve-wracking rings Mr. Fishman finally picked up.

The presentation was a hit. Mr. Fishman spoke for about 30-40 minutes shooting off crazy, mind boggling facts about the monstrosity of Wal-Mart. Did you know Wal-Mart does as much sales as Target by St Patricks day than Target does all year? Or that the profit per employee in Wal-Mart is about $7,000 and at Exxon-Mobile it is $250,000 per employee? Or that Chile is the largest producer of salmon yet there are no natural salmon in that part of the world?

Another interesting point he brought up was how over-blown the issue of Wal-Mart entering the NYC market is. We live in a democracy he said, and if a business wants to open up they should be able to. When asked if the competition would be driven out of business, Mr. Fishman replied “consumers drive businesses out of business, not Wal-Mart”. He pointed out that the Wal-Marts in he city would be large Duane Reades, not huge superstores we imagine as they have in rural areas.

Anyway, I believe it was a great success and quite interesting to say the least.

As Dr. Tawil said a numerous amount of times, the one problem most students complain about is not having enough time. How right he is.

(Group Members: David Tawil, Jonathan Gong, Steven Esses)

Dear Class,

This Wednesday we will have the author of the book “The Walmart Effect” speaking to us via Skype about the book and about the effect of Walmart on the economy. There will be time for the class to ask questions to the author so please be prepared. Below is the synopsis of the book. If you can read the book by then, thats even better.

BIO:
Charles Fishman is an award-winning investigative and magazine journalist who has spent the last twenty years trying to get inside, understand, and explain important organizations, from NASA to Wal-Mart. Three times in four years, he won the Gerald Loeb Award, the highest award for business journalism. The Wal-Mart Effect was chosen as a Book of the Year by the editors of Amazon.com, The Economist, and the Financial Times. Fishman, who started his career at The Washington Post, has also been a senior editor at theOrlando Sentinel and the News & Observer in Raleigh, and has written for Fast Company magazine since 1995. In reporting about Wal-Mart, he has visited 150 Wal-Mart stores in twenty-eight states.

Fishman’s most recent book is The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water. Read more at www.charles-fishman.com.

Synopsis

Wal-Mart is the biggest company on earth, ever. Around 7.2 billion people shop there in a year – more than one visit for every person on the planet. It’s expanding across the globe from Brazil to Eastern Europe. And it has the power to change our world …

Charles Fishman takes us into the heart of the most successful superstore in history to show how the ‘Wal-Mart effect’ shapes lives everywhere, whether for overnight cleaners in America, bicycle-makers in China or salmon farmers in Chile. Now Wal-Mart’s influence is so great it can determine everything from the design of deodorant to the shape of a town, working practices to market forces themselves, Fishman asks: how did a shop manage to do all this? And what will the ultimate cost of low prices be?

David Tawil

Steven Esses

Jonathan Gong