Business and Economic Development Program

From left, Michael P. Verchot, director, UW Business and Economic Development Program, Thaddeus H. Spratlen, faculty directory of the program, and William D. Bradford, Dean of Business Administration

Teams of student consultants have helped create more than 125 jobs and generate over $3 million in value added revenue in Seattle’s Central Area, Rainier Valley and International business districts thanks to a nationally acclaimed program created at the UW Business School.

The Business and Economic Development Program just completed its fifth, and most successful, year of operation. Some 50 MBA and undergraduate business students worked with 13 businesses in highly ethnically diverse areas.

“Our aim is to help businesses that are already operating and have a reasonable chance for success,” said Michael Verchot, the program’s first and only director. “These are small businesses which may have grown to the point where they need some help figuring out what to do next. The owners have been successful at starting a business, now they need to learn how to grow one.”

One of the highlights of the program is that it brings together faculty, students and alumni from the business school, members from the community and successful business people from organizations like the Rotary Club. They all have one common goal: to help economically disadvantaged business communities create more jobs for local residents.

The program has been so successful that Verchot was recently invited to discuss it at a Harvard Business School conference.

“I am now getting calls from other schools all over the country asking how they can use this as a model for similar efforts they are setting up,” Verchot said. “What makes this effort different from previous ones is that we are actively encouraging participation from local businesses along with community groups from the areas we are trying to impact.”

Chester Dorsey, a 1977 graduate of the business school and owner of Chester Dorsey Auto Salons on East Madison in Seattle, is one satisfied customer of the program.

“The program was very helpful to me. I think it helped me turn the corner and reach another level in my business,” Dorsey said. ”I am operating a lot more efficiently now and my business has expanded so much I have added six new jobs.”

He offers high praise for the UW’s involvement.

“I want to thank the University of Washington. Dean Bill Bradford and Michael Verchot worked very hard on this. It’s something the university should have been doing a long time ago,” Dorsey added.

Each week for about 10 weeks a team of two to five graduate and undergraduate business students came to Dorsey’s shop to help him implement a new accounting system, assist with marketing efforts and revise his operations manual.

“I got to interact with the students and they got to interact with me,” he said. “I think it was very educational for all of us.”

For Sue Taoka in the city’s International District the issue was how to make the area more visible to residents and tourists alike.

“This is a business and residential area that is considered very specialized,” Taoka said. “Surprisingly, many people know little about it, and we were concerned that people were scared of the area.”

Taoka is Executive Director of the Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority. Verchot called her and said he wanted to get some students involved in the area so they put together a project to look at ways to market the district.

An interdisciplinary team of students from the Business School, Law School and Graduate School of Public Affairs spent about six months in the area talking with residents and business owners to create a marketing plan.

“They got to know the area very well and did a very good analysis of the situation,” Taoka said. “They put together a plan that we are starting to implement now. It’s going to take a while, but I was very impressed with the amount of time they spent. Now we hope we can get another team to come back and spend some time with individual businesses in the area.” ¶

Paul Lowenberg, News and Information