Competition Generates Entrepreneurial Spirit

Capital Resource Corp., an affiliate of The Arkansas Capital Corporation Group, is showing its support for innovative business ideas to the tune of $104,000 in cash awards for winners of the Governor’s Award for Entrepreneurial Development.

This is the third year the company has provided the cash prizes, but its support for at least one of the former winners has gone beyond the award.

Stuart D. Walker took second place in the 2001 Governor’s Award for Entrepreneurial Development, winning $20,000 for a business idea for a business named Ozark Smokin’ Spice. Walker, with the help of his wife Teresa, has gone on to take third place in the Southwest Business Planning Competition held at Rice University. And, more importantly, the couple will roll out a line of grilling packages within weeks.

Capital Resource has provided working capital for Ozark Smokin’ Spice’s first year of operations. Teresa Walker explained that Capital Resource has provided $108,000 to launch the business. They supplemented it with $12,000 of their own.

“Arkansas Capital Corp. should be commended for their commitment to this competition and business development in the state,” said Lance Sexton, who served as Walker’s faculty sponsor from the University of Arkansas during the competition.

Stuart and Teresa Walker are grateful for the support. They wouldn’t be readying manufacturing space and picking out packaging materials if it weren’t for the small business loan.

By the end of this year Ozark Smokin’ Spice hopes to have 40 grocery store contracts for their combination packs of spice rubs for meat and cans of wood that simmer in the grill during cooking to provide a smoked flavor. Their signature combination is a barbecue rub and hickory smoke. They also hope to develop a Cajun rub and sassafras smoke combination as well as a Southwest rub with mesquite smoke.

Walker is “a shining star” example of what the competition is meant to do, Sexton said. The competing students should develop their business plan and proposal for the competition as if they really plan to start the business, then use their winnings to help launch the idea, he said.

Sexton was convinced it was a good business plan and a marketable product from the start, Walker said. It wasn’t until he’d won the third place award at the national competition that Walker was convinced.

When asked what he’d say to others thinking about launching a new business idea, Walker said, “If you want a career where you control your own destiny and a have a positive influence on others and build something that is larger and longer lasting than yourself, entrepreneurship is for you.

“But on the flip side,” he said, the “easy, stress-free life” of working for someone else has its advantages for some people.

Cash prizes totaling $104,000 will be awarded this year for the Governor’s Award for Entrepreneurial Development, thanks to Arkansas Capital Corp.’s investment. Awards the first year totaled $63,000 and last year totaled $115,000.

That kind of support is what makes the competition a success, Sexton said. Walker’s win at the national competition shows that it’s “certainly a wonderful competition,” he added.

C. Sam Walls, executive vice president of The Arkansas Capital Corporation Group, said the award levels make the competition the fourth-largest collegiate business plan competition in the United States.

“We are also pleased to see that the number of teams in the competition continues to grow with each passing year.”

Eighty-two teams are expected to compete this year from 12 of the state’s 15 four-year universities.

“This is an excellent competition that encourages college students at universities throughout Arkansas to develop business planning skills,” Sexton said. “It helps develop that entrepreneurial spirit for college students.”

The judges consider the entire business concept, looking at feasibility, significant capital gains potential, investment possibilities and actual implementation.