William Joubert, Director of the Louisiana Small Business Development Center at Southeastern talks about business planning and the future prospects in various business sectors at the Millenial meetup.  
Nikisun Shrestha/The Lion's Roar

The Louisiana Small Business Development Center hosted the Northshore Millennial Meetup last week. The event was a conversation between the students and members of LSBDC on various aspects of business.

On Thursday, Nov. 17, millennials gathered in the Student Union first floor to discuss some of their business ideas and to gain more knowledge on the business environment. The event was focused on this demographic.

“Our National Association of Small Business Development Centers was doing research on what businesses are growing and what kind of customers are growing businesses, the whole small business model and how is it changing with the millennial,” said Director of LSBDC William Joubert. “A bunch of the centers got together, and we talked about how can we reach them, the millennial generation.”

The association decided that having direct conversations with the students was the way to move forward.

“We said, ‘Why don’t we do a series of conversations because the students don’t typically wanna walk into an institution making appointments to talk to some people who have some experience,”’ said Joubert. “The idea was ‘Well, if they’re not coming to us, let’s go to them.’”

The students attending the event were not only from business backgrounds. Students with different majors came in to the meetup as well.

“I think this is a really beneficial event, especially for college students, because when you go to college, most of it is about getting a degree,” said Matthew Dyson, a sophomore engineering technology major. “But then, there’s some students who want more. Some students go to college to learn how to do certain things that they can apply towards their dream whether it’s building a business or something that could change the world.”

Along with the conversation with the students and audience members present in the union, the event also featured questions from millennials online.

“We decided to get out in university environment and public places and have this kind of exchange,” said Joubert. “We use the tools that they use, the Twitter, the Facebook and maybe they begin to say ‘Wow, there are some people that can help me.’”

The hosts were happy with how the event went and eager to get the feedback from the audience.

“This is our maiden voyage,” said Joubert. “The first time we’ve done it. We’re gonna be looking at the feedback we get today and determine what we should be doing next time.”

For more information on LSBDC, call 985-549-3831 or email [email protected]. Meetings with consultants are done by appointment only. 

Brandy Boudreaux, a business consultant and an alumnus of the university provides the insights into starting and conducting a small business. 
Nikisun Shrestha/The Lion's Roar