Dubbed NanoLoans, they are a North Iowa derivative of microloan programs used successfully for several decades in Africa and India to stimulate small business development. Many of those loans are for only one hundred or two hundred dollars, but have had phenomenal social impact by enabling sustainable businesses. In its North Iowa version, loans up to $2,500 can be used to move a business model farther along in its development by paying for prototype development, patents, equipment, working capital and other start-up costs.

"Making a series of small, uncollateralized loans at the prime interest rate to new entrepreneurs without many assets is not considered a solid growth strategy in the banking industry, so the program was initially greeted with a certain amount of skepticism,” observed Ted Bair, Small Business Development Center Director. "To be successful without collateral, we had to find different C's to focus on. We chose Character, Concept and Commitment.”

"A significant part of my job is working with new businesses and new businesspeople. As their concept unfolds and they begin developing their business plan, I am in a perfect position to see if they are a good NanoLoan candidate,” continued Bair. "As part of their NanoLoan commitment, they are required to take the FastTrac® NewVenture™ course. We call it a ten-week ‘business boot camp,' but you cannot argue with the results; 78 percent of the over 200 businesses started the last seven years by graduates of NIACC's FastTrac® NewVenture™ course are still in business. Compare that to an average failure rate of 60 percent! Of equal importance, we have had a loan default rate of 0.0 percent. In fact, two became so successful that they paid off their loans early.”

"The impact of the NIACC JPEC NanoLoan program in North Iowa has been exciting and surprising,” said Jamie T. Zanios, NIACC JPEC Director. "Now we have multiple funding opportunities for the smallest organization up through the largest companies in the region, available in one spot. We can help create the business plan, help source different financial resources and offer ongoing consultation and support to help new businesses become successful. But a more significant measure of the program's success is in the businesses that NanoLoans have helped.”

NanoLoan Recipients

Michael Groesbeck has a powerful vision; linking diverse home-based businesses in North Iowa together in a comprehensive Web site that is more attractive to search engines. The NIACC NanoLoan program helped him make that vision, www.iowahomebusinessexchange.com, a reality.

"Every business and their brother are on the Web,” Groesbeck said. "The challenge for a small home-based business is to break free of the clutter and get your products or services noticed for a reasonable cost. Most struggle with a lack of tech support and money to create a presence on the Web. I can come in, create a storefront for them that includes high quality photographs and integrate everything into a Web-based community where their goods and services can be found–without breaking the bank. If it hadn't been for the NanoLoan program, I would have probably delayed things to put together enough money to ‘bootstrap' the start-up. Because NIACC and the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center put this together to help entrepreneurs, I can pursue my dream right away.”

Anne Anderson is the owner and creative force behind Interwoven: Textiles for Spirit and Space (www.interwovenstudio.com). Anderson received a $2,500 NanoLoan for building improvements, marketing, materials and supplies.

Anderson designs and creates custom, hand-made paraments and banners for megachurches and vestments for pastors serving congregations in the Midwest. Over the past 10 years, she did this work on a part-time basis as a hobby. With the help of the Small Business Development Center and the NIACC JPEC NanoLoan, Anderson is now able to operate as a sole proprietorship full-time.

"My products provide a vibrant, visual focus that reflects the vitality of a congregation and supports the teachings of the church and its greater mission,” Anderson said. "The SBDC at the NIACC JPEC is so easy to work with and provides a wealth of resources for people both starting business as well as those who are already in business.”

For more information on the NIACC JPEC NanoLoan program, call (641) 422-4342 or visit www.niacc.edu/pappajohn.

Q: What can community colleges do to help student entrepreneurs?

A: First, embrace entrepreneurship as a philosophy. Teach it as life skills, not just business skills. So if someone doesn’t have a particular interest in starting a business, they can still see the skills they’re acquiring as helpful for whatever they do. So it’s more a life philosophy than just starting a new business philosophy.

Second, help surround students with really good people. Help build their mentor lists and their advisory board list. Step in and play that role yourself.

Finally, highlight the late bloomers. I spoke at 20 college campuses this past year, and it’s incredible the amount of stress that’s on students…to conquer the world at a really young age and solve the world’s problems. And yet our society is full of late bloomers. This is particularly important to anyone who is teaching continuing ed or adults where there might be particular nervousness around not having had your big success. Mark Twain wrote Huck Finn at age 50; Hitchcock directed Vertigo at age 59, Beethoven wrote Symphony #9 at age 54….The message to impart is start now; fail now. Fail big; learn big. Keep splotching paint onto your own blank white canvas and someday your own unique painting will emerge; there’s plenty of time.

Q: How do we reach Gen Y?

A: I often hear people who are teaching younger people, ask, "How do we reach these young people? They’re so different. Our messages aren’t getting through.” There are all these books and consultants popping up around how different Gen Y is. Sure, we grew up on the Internet and we won’t get drafted for a war, so there are some differences. But ultimately it’s a mistake to treat Gen Y as aliens who parachuted to earth from the planet Krypton. Fundamentally, if you ask me the question how to reach Gen Y, I would answer, "How do you reach any human being? With a message that clearly delivers value in a way that they’ll find enticing”….Fundamentally let’s be wary of too broad generalizations, and let’s tone down the hyperventilation around how different this generation is.

Q: How do we handle unusual students, people who might struggle with the formal curriculum?

A: I struggled mightily with my high school’s formal curriculum. I wasn’t doing well academically; I had different interests. I responded to information in different ways. I have a friend who has a theory around standouts in life. He says if someone clearly has different thinking tendencies or a different way of taking in information or a different way of looking at the world, if he or she receives early endorsement of that difference and then makes the pursuit of the exceptional or the pursuit of being different part of his or her self image, then with a few lucky breaks he becomes a standout later in life. I think we should do less conforming to the norm and more embracing of people’s differences. I know it’s challenging as a teacher/educator with limited resources to have 50 different classrooms with 50 different people or 50 different teaching styles. But I think not immediately penalizing those who aren’t initially up to snuff or who have a slightly different learning style is the best approach.

The theme of the 2009 NACCE Conference will be "Understanding the Value.” This is the first of three articles that will appear in Community College Entrepreneur introducing this conference theme.

As community college leaders evaluate moving forward in the 21st century, they face countless choices about how to apply their financial and human resources to the greatest benefit of the communities they serve. Entrepreneurship education needs to be a leading part of this discussion on every campus. But this requires understanding its value so an accurate analysis can be made of the potential payoff of an investment in entrepreneurship education.

"Entrepreneurship education leads to the creation of new businesses and jobs and that helps a community, helps a region, and helps a state,” says NACCE Founder Tommy Goodrow. "As to its value for the college itself, when a community college demonstrates its willingness to play a role in creating wealth in its community, that really connects the college to the community. Also, entrepreneurship programs broaden the ability of community colleges to reach a broader range of community citizens than they otherwise would. Finally, there's one more benefit. Entrepreneurship education empowers educators to integrate real life understanding about how our society functions in a global economy and that enriches educators.”

"Entrepreneurship education helps spark the entrepreneurial spirit within students and ignite their passions while providing the tools necessary to succeed,” says Tim Mittan, Director of the Entrepreneurship Center at Southeast Community College in Lincoln, NE. "These empowered students will bring their talents to the community as either entrepreneurs creating and growing new companies or intrapreneurs strengthening established organizations. When educated properly, communities will thrive on these forward-looking, global-reaching entrepreneurs.”

"As we talk about entrepreneurship education as a lifelong learning process, it is important to realize that young people are the pipeline that fuels the successful creation of new businesses,” says Cathy Ashmore, Executive Director of the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education in Columbus, OH. "Our organization believes that ‘Entrepreneurs are not born…rather they become through the experiences of their lives.' So our challenge is to help the teachers develop strategies to provide a great variety of experiences that will spark the entrepreneurial spirit and challenge students to develop the skills to be successful.”

Entrepreneurship education can't start too early. "Early child education in entrepreneurship has proven very effective at introducing young students to the career option of entrepreneurship and formally introducing these students to post secondary education,” says Tim Putnam, Associate Director of the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center at North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City, IA.

Among the Center's programs for K-12 is a two-day "Entrepreneur for a Day” (E4D) program. "After reviewing our survey results, we have discovered that over 60 percent of the fifth graders that participated in entrepreneurship education would like to become an entrepreneur some day,” says Putnam. "After fifth graders participate in E4D, they take a tour of the community college campus; 42 percent of the fifth graders have never been on a college campus. The students are very bright eyed and very enthusiastic as they tour the campus and interact with current community college students. Our hope is that all these young students will see that college is an option for them.”

"Entrepreneurship education for the primary grade student is important on more than one level,” says Gayle Hsiao, Entrepreneurship Educator at the Springfield Technical Community College's Entrepreneurial Institute in Springfield, MA. "The goal of our Entrepreneur for a Day program is that we hope to teach the kids that owning their own businesses is an obtainable goal. Anyone with a good idea who is willing to work really hard can be the boss and control his/her own destiny. Kids in K-8 are dreamers and doers. They still believe they can do whatever they want to do. Many of the kids from our Entrepreneur for a Day program promise to return with their business plans so they can become a bigger part of our Entrepreneurial Institute.

"We also believe that participating in one of our programs will introduce the city kids to the college,” Hsiao adds. "They have a good experience while here and we hope they will begin to realize that the college is here for them. We have a ‘one stop' source of information and guidance for anyone starting a business now or in the future and we are here for them as their community college when the time comes for them to think about continuing their education. Participating in one of our programs may be the first step taken by many of these kids to really think about and plan their future.”

Speaking at the 2008 NACCE Conference, Mike Hennessey, President and CEO of The Coleman Foundation, summed up the critical importance of entrepreneurship education this way: "Self employment or working on a project basis is the new road to affluence and fulfillment. The economy of the future belongs to the entrepreneur, not the bureaucrat and chief….The game has changed significantly over 20 years….It's going to take everyone in this room and more to get it there. We need to move that needle forward. We've got to have an increased sense of urgency. These students are passing in front of us every day; when they move through and get away from us, if we haven't taken that opportunity to impact their lives then shame on us.”