February 13, 2015

Mentor Mixer, Picture Day, and Vision Boards

This week we kicked off Laval Entrepreneur Mentor Program Wednesday with the Mentor Mixer, hosted by Mike Nemat at his 40,000 square foot facility in Madera. Mr. Nemat welcomed the Laval EMP group with a tour of his facility and presentation of the manufacturing services Nemat Inc., provides. Nemat Inc., provides manufacturing of consumer products, engineering and management consulting services, and consulting on Just-In-Time and lean production. Nemat Inc., was a great venue for our new and continuing mentee and mentors to meet and introduce themselves.

Mr. Nemat also provided great food, some of which was provided by our very own Laval Entrepreneur Mentor Program Coordinator, Marisela Flores-Hamm with Casa de Flores Catering. We want to thank Mentor Mike Nemat for hosting this semester’s Mentor Mixer. It was a great event!

During this Friday’s Laval Entrepreneur Mentor Program meeting, Chather Phillips provided lunch from a local restaurant called Gem of Thailand, located at Herndon and Blackstone.

We then headed outside for the Laval Entrepreneur Mentor Program group photo taken by Roe Borunda of Roetography. Roe operates her photography business from the hatchery at the Lyles Center and was the winner of last year’s Collegiate Entrepreneur of the Year Award. We had a great time watching everyone pose and take pictures wearing a little bit of red in their clothing. Thank you Roe. We look forward to your creativity and our Laval EMP photo every semester.

While we were taking the pictures, Dr. Stearns announced that our very own Quentin Sanford won the Collegiate Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He will be honored at a luncheon sponsored by the Fresno Chamber on March 11th. Quentin is also a new resident in the Hatchery at the Lyles Center. Congratulations Quentin on your new accomplishments!

Finally, we headed back into the Lyles Center for some delicious Valentines cupcakes baked by mentee Shannon Sill and to share our five-year goal road maps. Dr. Stearns concluded by discussing the importance of the five entrepreneurial skills at the core of the program: vision, selling, networking, team building, and leadership. He stated he doesn’t “know how anyone does anything without a vision.” Also that “People gravitate towards people who have a great vision.”