GRAZIADIO IN THE NEWS
MALIBU TIMES — MBA students in the social entrepreneurship course taught this spring by Professor Annie Krikorian divided into teams and took on the task of assisting SABEResPODER, a Spanish-language media company based in Los Angeles, in developing a website and a business strategy to connect Latino immigrants with jobs.
SABEResPODER, a purpose-driven B-corporation, focuses on empowering the lives of Latinos by delivering educational content over multiple platforms—video, print, digital, mobile and events— to help immigrants assimilate into the United States.
The first group of five students presented the “Help Buddy Opportunities” system, a website that allows users to search a database of workers in the SABEResPODER system and oversee their own hiring process for jobs or individual projects.
They presented sample customer and worker profiles, including a picture, skill set, language, and satisfaction rating options.
They conducted a survey of employers and of the total respondents, 86 said they would be willing to hire a Latino worker for a job or project from an online database.
The second group of six students presented the “Micro-Business Opportunity,” an option to create a middle layer between the clients and the employees that oversee jobs being done and ensure their quality fulfillment.
They proposed hiring and managing people via mobile phones. After conducting several studies and looking at the statistics, the group concluded that there is high demand for cleaning services and that it would be the best option for SABEResPODER to explore.
Pepperdine full-time MBA students Jens Eser, Benson Su, TJ Wolcott, and Nicole Warner are quoted in the article in The Malibu Times.
Bloomberg Businessweek — Regarding best sources of funding for small businesses: “Friends and family, since they are typically acting benevolently, will be willing to accept the most reasonable terms and have the most flexibility,” says Craig R. Everett, associate director of the Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Project at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management. Software programs like ZimpleMoney can help formalize friends-and-family loans and set up repayment plans.
To mitigate any injury risk, the Pepperdine team suggested the Mets wait until after the 2014 season before offering Harvey an extension. They then looked at the contracts of not only the five pitchers listed above but also other starting pitchers who signed extensions after their first or second professional seasons.
