ECU earns grant fro Small Business Institute

A business consulting project, conducted by East Carolina University’s Small Business Institute for a Beaufort County company, has won a top award from a national organization.

The Region IV Case of the Year Award, presented by the Small Business Institute Director’s Association at a recent meeting in San Antonia, Tex., recognizes the ECU institute’s work with Smoke’s Rubber Products Inc. of Washington, N.C. The company manufactures and refurbishes imprint rolls for textile and other industries. As Region IV case winner, ECU becomes a finalist for the National Case of the Year competition.

The ECU Small Business Institute is an outreach program of the ECU School of Business. It uses undergraduate and graduate business students to help small businesses solve operational problems. Since 1974, the outreach program has worked with more than 500 clients to address strategic management, marketing, human resources, accounting, financial management or inventory control issues.

At the end of the consulting period, all suggestions for improving the operation of the business are made in a written report to the business owner and in oral presentations given by the members of the student consulting team. The students on the winning team are: Joshua T. Boucher of Yardley, Pa.; Torri D. Forbes of Charlotte; Michael X. Papera of West Caldwell, N.J.; Michael Schrimpf of Florstadt, Germany and Andrew Worth of Cumberland, Maine.

In addition to the project award, the ECU Small Business Institute’s director, Stephen Childers, was awarded the Coleman Foundation Scholarship.