NEW ORLEANS – The Idea Village, in partnership with Loyola University New Orleans, announced that applications are now open for MBA students aspiring to be team leaders during the immersive IDEAcorps consulting challenge, an exclusive MBA student experience through which teams of students will help founders of New Orleans-based startups to advance their companies in four days during New Orleans Entrepreneur Week, presented by Iberia Bank, from March 10-13, 2016.
“IDEAcorps is more than a competition,” said Tim Williamson, co-founder of The Idea Village. “It’s an uncommonly transformative experience that plugs MBA students directly into the local entrepreneurial network.”
Founded in 2006 by The Idea Village, IDEAcorps has engaged more than 500 MBAs from across the country to work one-on-one with New Orleans entrepreneurs. Past teams have hailed from business schools at Stanford University, Harvard, Dartmouth College, Northwestern University, and Cornell University.
This year, the IDEAcorps consulting challenge will be hosted for the first time by Loyola University New Orleans, where the College of Business has a new and invigorated focus on entrepreneurship and newly established Center for Entrepreneurship and Community Development (CEDC). The challenge will focus on local immersion and deeper integration from local stakeholders by recruiting MBA student team leaders from Loyola University, LSU, Tulane University, UNO and other universities in the region. In this way, the challenge will help to spotlight entrepreneurship and boost local start-ups based in New Orleans.
"IDEAcorps opened opportunities for me in the entrepreneurship space that I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to access,” said Jon Atkinson, founding director of Loyola’s CEDC, established in September 2014. “It’s a foundation of the program at Loyola and something we want to make sustainable and maintain as a pillar for New Orleans Entrepreneur Week.”
An IDEAcorps alumnus, Atkinson was part of the winning student team in 2010 and credits his career success to his IDEAcorps experience. Atkinson has been named a part of both the Silicon Bayou 100 and New Orleans CityBusiness’ 2015 Money Makers. In addition to founding Loyola’s CECD, he has acted as guest judge for Startup Weekend, NOLA Tech Week, and other events in the city’s entrepreneurial community.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and those selected to be leaders will then recruit six students for their teams.
MBA students interested in being IDEAcorps team leaders are invited to apply before Saturday, December 5, 2015, at 11:59 p.m. CST here.
