Prison Break: Entrepreneurs in Training
Gene McCubbin, CEO & Founder, PopLabs
Several years ago I responded to a direct mail piece, asking if I was willing to participate in a program to teach entrepreneurism to recent graduates from our state penal system. I have always felt a pull to give back to young entrepreneurs, speaking at local colleges, Chambers, speaking circuits, and volunteering for Junior Achievement.
I visited with the founder of the program, an inspirational young lady named Catherine (Cat) Rohr, who had resigned from her New York City-based VC job and dedicated her career, income and sanity to building this new idea called the Prison Entrepreneurship Program (PEP) to give back to “the least of these.” Although my religious beliefs were slightly different from Ms. Rohr’s, her spirit and enthusiasm were contagious … and the cause was more than noble.
I have built a career out of developing businesses based on scalability, primarily in the services venue. Although technology and IT are the core products or services my companies have always offered (my current company, PopLabs is a national provider of SEO, search marketing and social media services), the underpinning has always been a base of domestic and international business process outsourcing entities … inexpensive labor for service and sales.
In these call centers, I have seen scores of sharp young men who would otherwise be able to command a larger income, but were relegated to a wage labor role due to their bad choices and subsequent incarceration. From the financial planner with one too many DUIs, or the car dealership manager who was caught with enough drugs to be convicted for possession with intent to distribute, these men were sharp, hard working and loyal.
Entrepreneurism is, of course, a natural path to greater opportunity. I asked Cat to send me copies of sample business plans they had created, and was pleasantly surprised to see a breadth of knowledge that was deeper than the bulk of entrepreneurial business plans I review as an active angel investor. Upon visiting the prison, I was surprised to see a sense of camaraderie amongst the participants, regardless of ethnicity or religion. Raw enthusiasm … based on a belief that someone cared and that life might actually hold a future.
These are men that have run drug rings, car theft businesses, and more. Cat insists on a lengthy qualification process, which includes memorizing a QWERTY keyboard (despite not having a computer). The four-month class consists of reading business and management books, writing a business plan, and ultimately culminates in an intense business plan competition inside prison, attended and judged by legitimate venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and senior executives who fly in from all over the country to attend.
Three years into development, PEP has graduated 300 men in six classes by providing in-depth business training and preparedness education, helped hundreds of recently released ‘graduates’ abstain from influences that may have otherwise drawn them back into crime, garnered the assistance of 10 MBA programs including Harvard, Stanford, MIT and Wharton, and assisted in the start up of 36 new small business enterprises. At last count, PEP has a budget of more than $2,000,000 annually (a 210% increase from last year), raised entirely from donations from foundations, corporations, executives and past participants. One-third of its donors are its own graduates.
I have personally mentored graduates, assisted Cat in raising money, brought in additional executive and entrepreneurial participation, judged business plans, taught aspiring entrepreneurs how to sell their products or services, taught in the all-voluntary post-release Entrepreneurship School (hosted at Rice University for PEP graduates), and thoroughly enjoyed my participation in this program.
Why do I do this (or for that matter…why does Cat do this, as she has sacrificed much for this vision)? Simple. If we teach one person how to run and operate a business well …we have taught them to fish. They can then feed themselves and others and we no longer have to worry about recidivism, depression, drug usage, or poverty; a substantial reward for the participant, the economy and everyone involved in PEP.
You can not teach drive and ambition…but you can redirect it for a healthier outcome than what landed these men in prison in the first place. PEP’s recidivism rate (the rate of returning to prison) is less than 5% for its graduates, compared to 65% or more national recidivism.
PEP’s results today show that maybe we need more entrepreneurial education in our prison systems…instead of simply building more prisons. I am enthused to be a part of this program and to help these aspiring new entrepreneurs.
About Gene McCubbin
An accomplished entrepreneur, Gene has co-founded several technology companies; including National Accounts Services, Axis Technologies and RealUse, which were all successfully merged or acquired. In November 2001, Gene founded Webxites, which was rebranded PopLabs in 2007. Experiencing over 3,700% growth in the first four years, under Gene’s leadership, PopLabs became one of the nation’s fastest growing companies. The company was recently recognized as the #50 fastest growing private company in the United States (Hot 100 awards, Pricewaterhouse Coopers and Entrepreneur), the #7 fastest growing technology company in Texas (Fast 50 awards, Deloitte), and was recognized three years in a row as one of Houston’s fastest growing companies in technology (FastTech 50 Awards). PopLabs offers a unique combination of paid ad management, search engine optimization, social media, custom site design and campaign targeting and advisory services to small businesses, ad agencies and PR firms throughout the US. In May 2006, Gene was honored by HTC in the Celebration of Entrepreneurs Gala event as well as having been a recognized as a finalist in Ernst & Young’s Gulf State Entrepreneur of the Year program. Gene’s blog is www.genemccubbin.com.