Business & Entrepreneurship

What do ballroom dancing, fresh farm produce and paper beads from Africa have in common? They are central to the business plans of award-winning ventures in the 2010 YouthBridge Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition. Five start-up businesses dedicated to helping others shared a total of $155,000 in cash grants presented at a ceremony April 13 at Washington University.

Olin Business school doctoral student Michael McLaughlin in one of 10 students from across the United States to receive a 2010 Doctoral Fellowship in Accounting presented by the Deloitte Foundation. His personal story is inspiring.

Entrepreneurs dedicated to helping empower and build strong communities have reached the final stage of the annual business plan competition sponsored by the YouthBridge Foundation and the Skandalaris Center at WUSTL. The seven finalists have presented their business plans to the judges who will award $155,000 in seed money to the winners. The award ceremony takes place April 13 after a keynote speech by Kevin Salwen who has just published a book about his family’s experience with selling their home, living with less and giving back to their community.

Crackerjacks, hot dogs and sports management – it’s all part of the spring season – semester – at Olin Business School. With an all-star list of guest speakers, students explore the business side of professional sports. It’s easy to keep your head in the game when top executives and media pros are sharing their expertise and experience from the wide world of sports.

Being named the Wells Fargo Advisors visiting lecturer in entrepreneurship at the Olin Business School and Skandalaris Center is a homecoming of sorts for Robert E. Wilson III, JD. The international investment banker, lawyer and entrepreneur grew up in St. Louis but now calls Rio de Janeiro home. He is on campus April 5-16 and will return again in the fall.

The School of Law’s Tyrrell Williams Lecture will be delivered by His Excellency Thomas Buergenthal, JD, the United States judge on the International Court of Justice in the Hague. The lecture, “The International Judicial System: Its Growing Influence,” will take place at 4 p.m. Thursday, April 8, in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom in Anheuser-Busch Hall.

Although best known as a pioneering feminist, Gloria Steinem always has been a civil rights advocate. Her work now extends to the burgeoning global problem of human trafficking. Steinem will be on campus at noon Monday, April 12, in Graham Chapel speaking on “Sex Trafficking and the New Abolitionists” for the Assembly Series.

Leading experts will convene for a discussion panel on “Labor and Migration Effects of Human Trafficking” at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 7, in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom of Anheuser-Busch Hall. The panel, hosted by the Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Work and Social Capital, is co-sponsored by the Law & Culture Initiative and is free and open to the public.

Mae Quinn, JD, professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis says drug courts may not be as effective as claimed. “In their zeal to solve problems plaguing our communities, today’s court reformers often overlook important concerns of individual defendants — including their rights to due process of law and zealous representation,” Quinn says.

Imagine a 2010 remake of the movie “The Graduate”.Instead of advising the young grad to pursue a career in “plastics” today’s version would advocate, “operations”.It’s the buzzword for the 21st century and the key to running every successful business. Olin Business School faculty and a group of St. Louis business leaders dedicated to improving operations management have formed a new association to promote innovation, collaboration and performance through operational excellence.