Episode 281: Do it for the Kids!

Episode 281 originally broadcast on October 23, 2010

Russ visits with Bill Sherrill of The Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship, recently ranked No. 1 in the country. Then, we’ll talk with Rafael Alvarez, founder of Genesys Works, who is working hard to prepare disadvantaged high school kids to thrive in a challenging new business climate.

School of Business 10/23/10

Russ and John present the show about those people that MAKE business happen, the innovative types who make our economy sing. Includes: the BusinessMakers Quote of the Week—creativity from artist Pablo Picasso; This Week in Business History includes such creative innovators as Roland Macy, Pablo Picasso and The Monkees; the Jargon Challenge Round—trendy technospeak that YOU should know; and Dumbest Moments in Business History—Starbucks is redesigning its customer experience.

Bill Sherrill - Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship

Russ visits with Bill Sherrill, founder and chairman emeritus of The Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship. The University of Houston’s program has been rated the No. 1 undergraduate entrepreneurship in the nation, according to The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine in their list of the Top 25 Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Programs of 2010. This is not the first time the Wolff Center has received such accolades: the program was ranked #1 in 2008 and #2 in 2007 and 2009. How do you do that? Bill Sherrill explains how.

Rafael Alvarez - Genesys Works

Rafael Alvarez saw an opportunity to make a difference, and he launched Genesys Works. Genesys Works, a non-profit company, hires and trains high school kids, providing experience and guidance to economically disadvantaged high school students that will help them get professional jobs after they graduate. Rafael contracts with companies to “hire” his client students the summer before their senior year, then works with the kids to make them comfortable in a better career than many of them would ever have thought to pursue.