AMERICUS – Local entrepreneur and South Georgia Technical College graduate Jessica Wright was recently featured as a guest speaker for an American Enterprise Day program in the John M. Pope Industrial Technology Center on SGTC’s Americus Campus.
The co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Americus based company Innovative Senior Solutions spoke with students and attendees about entrepreneurial concepts and the Free Enterprise system – the system in which private businesses operate in competition with one another in the U.S. Wright spoke to the students and attendees in the room about finding their “why,” – one of the concepts she says that helped her business become successful.
“I want you to know that if you own your own business or if you are an employee, you must know your ‘why,’” Wright said.  “I’m not talking about the profit. I’m talking about the purpose of your organization – why you do what you do. People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”
Wright gathered this concept from a video she watched online that talked about the “Golden Circle” – a visual concept that is composed of three circles that make a target. The outermost circle is the “what”, or what a company provides, followed by the “how,” or how a company expects to provide that service, and the innermost circle is the “why,” or why a company provides the goods or service.
“The most inspiring leaders, regardless of what industry they are in, think and communicate from the inside out. Because of this concept, we started marketing our business from the inside out – starting with our ‘why,’” Wight said.
Wright attributes her company’s success to this way of thinking. Innovative Senior Solutions began in 2007 as a small business that was based out of the SGTC campus. Wright and her sister, Eshonda Blue, got the idea for the business when they began caring for their grandmother and saw a larger need in the community. Since then, their company has grown to over 100 employees, has locations in three cities, is licensed to serve in 27 counties and has over 150 clients.
In addition to a guest speaker, attendees witnessed the signing of a proclamation that declared Nov. 15 as Free Enterprise Day for the city of Americus. As a symbol of the City of Americus and South Georgia Technical College’s support for free enterprise, Americus Mayor Barry Blount, along with Wally Summers, SGTC’s Director of Economic Development, and La’Kietsa Davis, President of the Phi Beta Lambda student organization, signed the proclamation.
Free Enterprise Day was signed into order in 1980 by then President Jimmy Carter. Now in its 37th year, the day is celebrated by the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) and Phi Beta Lambda (PBL) student organizations each year to teach about entrepreneurial concepts.
The program was sponsored by SGTC’s Americus chapter of PBL and welcomed special guests from the Webster County High School FBLA club.
PBL and Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) are the largest business career student organizations in the world. The FBLA high school division has 215,000 members while the post-secondary division reaches over 11,000 college students. Phi Beta Lambda allows students to build a portfolio of documented accomplishments as a complement to their academic experience. The organization helps develop leadership, communication, and team skills that can be applied in the business setting.
For more information about PBL on the Americus campus, contact Dr. Andrea Oates at 229.931.2705 or aoates@southgatech.edu.