Two new faces now call the Willes Center for International Entrepreneurship and Brigham Young University Hawaii home. James Ritchie became the Director of the CIE in August and Leonard Black joined as the new Entrepreneur-in-residence around the same time.
Together, with Charles Stratton, the Entrepreneur Specialist, the team hopes to expand the entrepreneurial vision to all students on campus and work towards building relationships with other university campuses on the island of Oahu.
Ritchie said he and the others in the Center “feel empowered by President Wheelwright and the administration to be more of a resource to all the school.” He also gave his explanation on the importance of entrepreneurship and the Center on campus:
“Everyone that comes to BYU-Hawaii is going to go home and compete in the business world. Each job applicant has to sell themselves to their employer in one way or another, and we can help them gain those skills. Also, we want to help graduates use the things they’ve learned here to be good leaders in the community and the Church.”
Black and Ritchie both shared their desire to align the Center with the focus of the University on the Asian area. “Someday the Church will go to China,” said Ritchie, “and we want to have success stories for the students of those countries around China so we will have strong ties in that area. If we can’t build ourselves in Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and the Philippines, how can we survive in China?”
As for the Center’s well-known Business Plan Competition, Black said they hope to expand the competition and number of participants, especially by involving more non-business majors.
Both Ritchie and Black encouraged all students to enroll in BUSM 383, the small-business management class currently taught by Black, and they want all students on campus to enrich their lives, they said, through the skills and abilities offered by the programs of the CIE.
James and Carolyn Ritchie
While a missionary in Scotland, Ritchie served under Elder David B. Haight, a former Apostle for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Ritchie said his life has been formed around a piece of advice given to him by the then-President Haight: “Get your education, make your mark in life, and then prepare to be used by the Church.” He said he has followed the advice of his mission president throughout his life. After returning from his mission and receiving an education at the University of Utah, he married Carolyn Orton in 1966 and then started his career as a life-long entrepreneur.
When Ritchie was just getting started with his business ventures and his family, he said he owned up to 26 businesses simultaneously, was a bishop and worked long hours, leaving Sister Ritchie to raise their eight children – four boys and four girls – he said. “My greatest accomplishment in life is that I married well and I have eight great children that are all temple married and active in the church. I owe all of that to my wonderful wife.”
After many of his businesses became successful and an income was more easily secured, Sister Ritchie reminded Brother Ritchie of the third part of Elder Haight’s remonstration: “Get ready to be used.” Soon after, Brother Ritchie was asked to be a seminary teacher in California, and a life of Church service ensued. He was a Stake President in Simi Valley, a mission president in Virginia, a CES missionary in the South Pacific and in West Africa, and then the MTC president in Western Africa from 2004 to 2006. Shortly after returning home, he said, he received another phone call to serve as the director of the CIE at BYUH.
Sister Ritchie is currently a volunteer as the Administrative Assistant to JoAnn Rhodehouse, who is the Administrative Assistant to President Wheelwright, and she also works with the Religion Department teaching a Book of Mormon Class.
“With all the training and missionary experiences and with the CES training we’ve received, Sister Ritchie and I feel very anxious to see we can apply our skills and knowledge here. We feel blessed to have had so many opportunities to serve.”
Leonard and Susan Black
Brother Black, also an experienced entrepreneur, brings different skills and an entirely different background to the table. Wearing a pair of black All-Star Converse and at a height of 6’4”, Black reminisced about his days at the University of Utah where he played collegiate basketball and his time spent surfing and building street rods in Huntington Beach, arguably the surf capital of California.
After retiring from the “business arena,” as he called it, in the 1990s, Black was asked to create and direct an entrepreneurship center at his alma mater, where he launched and grew a number of successful entrepreneurship activities for students, including venture funds and a state-wide business plan competition. “We had over 600 teams involved in our competition,” he said, “and it’s still ongoing. We also created the first-ever, independently-run, student-based venture fund, now carrying $18 to $20 million.”
Brother Black and his wife, Susan, have three boys who have families of their own and are all involved in entrepreneurial-like activities themselves. Sister Black works on various programs with Brother Black at the Center, as well as being a tutor, a volunteer at the Polynesian Cultural Center and as a worker at the Laie Temple.
Brother Black’s advice to students at BYUH: “I encourage all students, regardless of major, interests or long-term professional goals, to get some education in entrepreneurship or small-business management because the skills learned through running a small business – earning and tracking revenue, watching your payables, and marketing – will eventually be a great help to anyone in any kind of business pursuits. Whether they are in the corporate world or on their own, those skills will help anybody.”