Youngstown Daily Legal News

State pilot entrepreneur in residence program sought

TIFFANY L. PARKS
Special to the Legal News
Published: February 25, 2014

A pair of state representatives have taken their campaign to require that the Small Business Advisory Council establish an entrepreneur in residence pilot program to the Senate.

House Bill 218, jointly sponsored by Rep. Cliff Rosenberger, R-Clarksville, and Rep. Mike Dovilla, R-Berea, was unanimously passed by the House in January and is now before the Senate Workforce and Economic Development committee.

“Entrepreneurs are responsible for the creation of thousands of jobs in our economy and have been, and will continue to be, key to the economic recovery of the state and the nation,” Rosenberger said, adding that the EIR program would be created with the “goal of building a connection between some of the already successful entrepreneurs in Ohio, those entrepreneurs just starting out and the government agencies that these businessmen and women interact with the most.”

Rosenberger said the concept of EIRs dates back to the 1980s.

“Many venture capital firms use EIRs to nurture successful companies,” he said. “EIRs are beginning to be used in universities, chambers of commerce and governments at all levels.”

Rosenberger said several federal agencies have brought in EIRs.

“Our legislation builds off of this concept in a simple way,” he said. “Successful entrepreneurs would serve as EIRs in government agencies to provide outreach to small businesses and entrepreneurs and to make government more responsive to their needs.”

Enacting HB 218 would have no budget impact on the state since entrepreneurs would serve voluntarily.

Rosenberger said the program would be established by the Small Business Advisory Council with a threefold mission: to provide better outreach by state government to small businesses; to strengthen coordination and interaction between state government and small businesses; and to make state government programs and functions simpler, easier to access, more efficient and more responsive to the needs of small businesses.

According to the bill, the council would identify up to five agencies to participate in the pilot program, based on programs and functions they have that impact small business.

The council would assign one entrepreneur to each of the selected agencies to serve as an EIR for no longer than a year.

“The EIR would serve as an advocate for entrepreneurs and small business within that agency, educating them on the programs and function of the agency and offering technical assistance and mentorship to entrepreneurs and small businesses in accessing programs and functions of the agency,” Rosenberger said.

In addition, the EIR would advise the agency on how to improve programs and functions serving entrepreneurs and small business.

At the conclusion of the pilot program, Rosenberger said the EIRs and the council would develop reports on best practices, experiences, opportunities and obstacles impacting entrepreneurs and small businesses.

“By bringing in an entrepreneur, one who has navigated the financial, technical, marketing and government challenges to launching a successful business, I believe that this initiative could create significant change in government,” he said.

“Bringing in EIRs into government also would be a very visible commitment to Ohio’s entrepreneurs and small businesses, demonstrating that the state is committed to ensuring that government is supporting, not hindering, innovators and dreamers.”

In previous proponent testimony for HB 218, Dan Navin offered support for the bill on behalf of the Ohio Small Business Council.

“I know small business owners usually have strong feelings about government agencies and the level of their ‘responsiveness to’ and ‘awareness of’ the problems of small businesses,” he said.

“The bottom line is that generally small business owners don’t feel government is sensitive to the concerns of their companies. Consequently, OSBC believes and hopes that an entrepreneur in residence program will be beneficial to changing or orienting the agency’s culture to the unique issues of small business.”

Based on his experience with similar programs at the federal level, Dovilla said he believes the proposed legislation would positively impact job creators in Ohio.

Dovilla said the initiative would encourage “more effective and efficient government and bring fresh ideas from the private sector to the public sector.”

“The EIR concept, created in the private sector, has flourished among non-profits, including many renowned colleges and universities in the United States,” he said.

“Most recently, this concept has been injected into the federal government through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The goal of this initiative is to streamline the regulatory process to provide technical support to small businesses that may lack the expertise to navigate the FDA’s approval process.”

Likewise, Dovilla said the pilot program under HB 218 seeks to appoint private-sector entrepreneurs to state agencies to analyze their internal processes and recommend ways in which they can be business friendly and eliminate unnecessary rules and regulations on job creators within the state.

“Government works best when it allows our state’s entrepreneurs to not only create new products for market, but also to recreate existing products and processes in a more efficient manner,” he said.

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