New Orleans Entrepreneur Week 2010 Video

Since 2000, The Idea Village has led a movement to develop New Orleans into a world-class entrepreneurial community with a mission to identify, support and retain entrepreneurial talent in the community. After ten years, a ‘new’ New Orleans has emerged, one that is becoming a magnet for talent and hub of innovation. It is in this spirit that The Idea Village, together with a collaboration of local and national partners, hosted New Orleans Entrepreneur Week 2010.

From March 20-27,2010, top MBA students, corporate volunteers, and our nation’s most accomplished entrepreneurs congregated and collaborated in New Orleans to provide over 9,000 hours of direct service to 329 early-stage New Orleans ventures and address emerging business opportunities in our community.

Downtown New Orleans was transformed into an entrepreneurial village, characterized by a line-up of world-class activities including investor presentations, business workshops, networking events and speeches from our nation’s most respected thought leaders. Inspired locations such as the IP building, the Contemporary Art Museum, National World War II Museum, Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, Fulton Street and Lafayette Square were home to the promising entrepreneurial movement that is underway.

Our collaboration of partners, including Downtown Development District, Economic Development Administration, Google, and the New Orleans Saints are building on the surge of entrepreneurial activity in hosting this annual festival of entrepreneurship, providing impact in New Orleans for generations to come.

Looking Backward, Looking Forward

It's been over a month now since the start of NOEW 2010. Things have calmed down a bit, one could say, although preparations for next year's big event are already nearing into sight again. At the Idea Village, we're always looking forward!

At the same time, we should reminisce briefly and thank all of those who made this year's event as stunning and vitalizing as it was. With the help of the nation's best and brightest, we made massive strides in placing New Orleans on the national map of innovation and entrepreneurship. Even after the craziness of Entrepreneur Week, the momentum at the Idea Village and in New Orleans remains insuppressible.

Big things have been happening for the Idea Village's entrepreneurial class since Entrepreneur Week. Of course, the guys at Big Easy Blends are preparing for their big trip to San Francisco, which they received for winning the Coulter Challenge during NOEW. While in the Bay Area, they will have the opportunity to pitch their already-booming business to prominent investors organized by Jim Coulter himself.

Drop the Chalk's Jen Schnidman also recently participated in Tulane University's 2010 NewDay Challenge and received first place (accompanied by a pleasant $20,000 in seed funding) for her business's financial sustainability and potential to effect social change.

Not that the Idea Village has missed out on the action, of course-- the IDEACorps Program, which now forms a part of the annual Entrepreneur Week, was recently named the Southern Policies Board 2010 Innovator Award Winner from Louisiana! The award recognizes the Idea Village's initiatives for improving economic opportunities and quality of life in the region.

There's no doubt, then, that it remains ON in NOLA!