Today, FALL/WINTER 2008 1 - University of the Ozarks

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According to the Small Business Administration, approximately 650,000 new small businesses are created each year in the U.S. Yet a full one-third of those do not survive more than two years. It takes a person of creativity, resourcefulness, high-energy and business savvy to be a successful entrepreneur. We found several of them. Ivan Quant ’98 Mr. Lee and Cocina de Doña Haydee Restaurants Ivan Quant credits a creativity course he took at Ozarks in 1997 taught by Business Professor Dr. Randy Hilton and Communications Professor Dr. Jane Cater for sparking his entrepreneurial spirit. “The course made me think out of the box in terms of how to approach the consumer to offer value,” said Quant. “When your business concept offers more value than others, then the business will develop easily. But to get to that point, you have to be creative. If you are just following or copying what the leader does, it will never take off.” Quant and his family own seven restaurants in the Nicaragua capital of Managua. Under the company name ERQ, the Quant family owns four Mr. Lee establishments --- a Chinese fast-food restaurant concept that operates in food courts — and three Cocina de Doña Haydee’s — a sit-down Nicaraguan food restaurant named for his grandmother, whose cooking skills inspired the family to get into the food business. The company employs about 115 people. Quant, who went on to earn an MBA from Kennesaw State University after graduating from Ozarks, serves as the operations manager of ERQ and directs all aspects of operations, policies, acquisitions and investments. Quant worked for several multinational companies in Nicaragua before getting into his own business. “I worked for companies where policies and bureaucracies many times matter more than value creation,” he said. “I like the opportunity to deliver quick responses to my customers’ demands.” Quant said ERQ plans to expand into other Central American countries in the near future. “The worst thing you can do as a small business owner is get too comfortable,” Quant said. “You have to always be searching for ways to improve and stay ahead.” 10 Today, FALL/WINTER 2008
That EntrepreneurialSpirit Dr. Johnny Dillard ’70 Central Research Zach Boatright ’04 D.Jones Tailored Collection Dr. Johnny Dillard is a disabled veteran, and he is proud to give other disabled veterans an opportunity to work. Dillard and his son, Scott, founded the Northwest-Arkansas-based business Central Research in 1999. The business, which employs about 20 people, provides a wide variety of administrative and financial services, including judgement recovery, investigative services, record management and administrative support. Central Research is currently working with several companies that work for the U.S. Department of Education. These companies are looking for individuals who have defaulted on student loans. Central Research helps locate these individuals, specifically those who are deceased or incarcerated. “We confirm that they are either deceased or incarcerated so that they can be taken off the U.S. Department of Education’s default list,” said Dillard, who earned a Ph.D. in education from Southwest University. A veteran of the Vietnam War, Dillard retired from active duty with the National Guard in 1995 as a lieutenant colonel. In the 1990s he was diagnosed with exposure to Agent Orange, which he contacted during his tour in Southeast Asia. As a 100 percent disabled veteran himself, Dillard emphasizes the hiring of disabled veterans and currently has about 10 employed in his business. Central Research was recently given a certificate of appreciation from the American Legion in recognition of its employment of workers with disabilities. “I served 24 years in the military, and I have a special place in my heart for veterans and veterans with disabilities,” Dillard said. “There is so much discrimination these days in the workforce. We’re not a charity organization, but if a disabled veteran is able to do the work, we’d love to have them. We hold them to the same standards as everyone else in the business, and they haven’t let us down.” Zach Boatright may be one of the university’s best dressed young alumni. Boatright is the vice president and a partner in D.Jones Tailored Collection, a two-year-old Dallas-Fort Worth-based business that offers custom-tailored suits at a fraction of what they would cost in stores. With founding partner Drew Jones, Boatright purchases high-end fabric, such as wool and silk, from Italy and utilizes from 4-10 tailors in China, to produce luxury suits for customers in the Metroplex area and beyond. Custommade 100 percent wool or wool blend suits that can cost upwards of $1,500 off the rack are sold for $325, or $280 for college students. The concept was created to focus on college students or recent graduates. “There are businesses out there that do something similar, but the things that set us apart are, first, the price, second, the personal attention we offer, and third, that we focus on college students,” said Boatright. “Our goal was to make luxury suits available to the average college student.” Even though most of the marketing efforts have focused on college students — the company sold 20 suits to one fraternity at Texas Christian University in October — about 60 percent of their business comes from the professional workplace. They sell an average 15-20 suits a month, but Boatright said the company just began concerted marketing efforts this past summer. “We want to get our college business up much higher, and that’s going to be our focus and our niche,” he said. “A lot of time college students don’t know the difference between a custom-made suit and one off the rack, so part of what we do is to educate them on the difference in quality and fit. We want to give them an opportunity to afford a nice suit or two for college functions or when they start going out for interviews.” More information on the business can be found at www.djonescollection.com. Today, FALL/WINTER 2008 11
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Page 13 and 14: That EntrepreneurialSpirit Pat ’7
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Page 19 and 20: 1980s Steve Crotts ’85 married Do
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Page 27 and 28: Helen McElree ’47 Heber and Steph
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