Winners named for Operation Jump Start
National Park Community College recently distributed $ 1,000 to the top three winners in the Operation Jump Start program’s culminating contest,
Operation Jump Start is an entrepreneur training program with 12 sessions totaling 36 hours. The program’s seven participants met twice a week for six weeks in April and May.
The program outline helped participants to determine the details of their prospective businesses. Participants were asked to identify their business and determine how to finance, market and sell their product.
“The outline of the program took you step by step,” said Caren Mcgregor. “By the end of it, you were ready to present your business as a whole and your feasibility plan. It kind of took you along, teaching you how to put it all together, which I had no clue how to do until I took the class.”
Barry Richard, program facilitator, said a variety of business experts visited and spoke during Operation Jump Start. Experts included an accountant, an attorney, a banker, a librarian, an SBA loan officer and two marketing specialists.
“That probably was one of the
most advantageous things is the fact that you’ve got a wide array of experts coming in giving you different perspectives from their business points of view,” said Travis Sorrows.
“It was wonderful. I had taken a similar class in my graduate school program and I would consider this class even much, much better than the ones I took when I was in graduate school in Chicago,” Mcgregor said.
Five of the seven participants submitted their feasibility plans on May 28. The submissions were judged by Richard, John Riggins of The Riggins Group in Little Rock, Sherry Howard of the Arkansas Women’s Business Center in El Dorado and Ray Taylor, a CPA in El Dorado.
The winners of the contest were notified by Riggins last week.
Sorrows, a retired FBI agent, earned first place and received $ 500 of seed funding. Sorrows and two other partners are planning a consulting business.
Sorrows said they are leaning toward naming the business Corporate Resilience Solutions, which would teach business executives and managers how to accelerate the recovery of employees from a crisis or significant event.
“I’m relegating what I did with the FBI to the corporate sector,” Sorrows said.
Mcgregor is an RN and received $ 300 for her second place submission. Her plan was for Upcycled Originals for the repurposing and refurbishing furniture and other household items.
Mcgregor recently acquired space off of Ouachita Avenue for a workshop. She is planning for the space to also include a store as well.
Denise Henderson placed third and received $ 200. Henderson had planned a reception agency, Hot Springs Destinations, for the local tourism industry.
“Everything was very worthwhile and interesting, but it was also very cautionary,” Henderson said.
Henderson said the program was a money- saver for her because she learned that the business likely would not have been a good situation.
“At the end of the day, I decided that my concept was a nogo at this time for financial reasons,” Henderson said. “Had I not taken the class, I might have just jumped right in and it probably would have cost me more than I would have wished.”