20A - Growing Your Social Capital

·     Domain expert: Robert Thomas, Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida

o   I found Mr. Thomas while doing research on food banks in the area. He is the branch manager for a Daytona Beach food bank that operates under the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. My business idea is slightly different than Mr. Thomas’ since it is for a B2B company that connects food banks like the ones he operates to restaurant/grocers. However, he was still able to provide helpful and insightful advice. I asked Mr. Thomas to review my idea napkin and give me any advice he thought would be relevant. This connection will enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity because Mr. Thomas has over a decade of experience in this field. He has made many connections of his own and learned valuable lessons which could be useful to me.

·     Market expert: Marcia Conwell, Bread of the Mighty

o  Ms. Conwell is the President and CEO of the Bread of the Mighty Food Bank in Gainesville. I found her through a charity-search website. Ms. Conwell’s company serves Alachua county and four other surrounding counties. It is very similar to my business concept – the Bread of the Mighty collects and distributes food donations and basic essentials to various partners, including food pantries, churches, and homeless shelters. I also asked Ms. Conwell to review my idea napkin. She is beneficial to my network because she works locally. While Bread of the Mighty relies on food drives and other individual donations instead of restaurant and grocer donations how my business idea would, she is familiar with the processes involved with serving as a middleman between donors and recipients.

·     Supplier: Publix Charities

o  The spokesperson I reached out to did not respond. While exploring a specific charity’s website, I found that Publix charities actively donates food and supplies to hundreds of nonprofits throughout the Southeast. 

·     Reflection: I definitely think that “targeted networking” is more beneficial than randomly approaching someone who looks like he or she could be useful. By doing just that little bit of research before, I was able to gain a lot from each interaction. In the future, I will make an effort to research more before networking events.