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enFocus turns 10, and chamber spoke with Executive Director Andrew Wiand to gain additional insight and learn how the business community can further engage with the nonprofit to attract talent to the South Bend Elkhart Region. First, let’s provide a little background.
Launched in May 2012, enFocus (short for “entrepreneurial focus”) attracts recent graduates and young professionals to its fellowship program to catalyze innovation in Northern Indiana communities. Inspired by a class trip to the American Underground incubator in Durham, N.C., South Bend native Wiand and six peers in the ESTEEM Master’s program at the University of Notre Dame envisioned an opportunity for South Bend to leverage recent graduates to help solve tough community challenges. Wiand and classmates pitched the concept for a talent incubator to local business leaders and partners at the University of Notre Dame who rallied around the concept.
The initial board of directors then found early adopting project sponsors to support the launch of the Fellowship program. The initial seven fellows were hired in August 2012 to work toward projects for eight South Bend partners and in doing so launched a unique model that would prove successful in attracting talent and fighting the “brain drain.”
enFocus has grown significantly in a decade, from seven Fellows to 32 Fellows supported by 5 full-time staff with a footprint across multiple Northern Indiana communities. Under Wiand’s leadership, enFocus has grown the program and sponsor base to over 150 sponsor partners and established not only a sustainable but also a replicable business model. The model leverages the skills of young professionals from a wide variety of disciplines in a way that benefits the entire ecosystem of businesses, communities and residents.
Fellows lead sponsored innovation projects, working collaboratively with partners from the City of South Bend and school systems to hospitals and manufacturers to discover and design solutions to problems, known and unknown. Organizations realize the benefits of access to top talent and highly motivated problem-solvers at a significantly reduced cost. Projects range from data analysis and process improvement studies to the creation of new products and services for regional businesses.
RESULTS
Over the 10 years enFocus has been working in the region, Fellows have completed more than 350 innovation projects for over 150 regional organizations. The engagements have generated millions of dollars in business value as public, private and non profit organizations are saving money, generating more revenue and implementing stronger business and technical practices within their businesses. In the first year alone, Fellows generated an estimated $3.2M in value across projects specifically within St. Joseph County. One example of an early project involved increasing the use of sport utility vehicles for non-emergent responses within the local fire department, which would save a projected $1 million in vehicle costs over a five-year period. New technology programs across school corporations have led to 1:1 laptop programs, internet connectivity programs and special programs to increase access to technology across community neighborhoods. Partnerships with manufacturers, through a collaboration with iNDustry Labs at Notre Dame, have identified and advanced efforts to unlock millions of dollars in value with the region’s manufacturers through process improvements, integration of automation technologies and enhanced business planning.
Fellow teams also help drive economic advancement through dedicated time cultivating ideas, creating supportive relationships with local entrepreneurs, and supporting intrapreneurship for existing organizations. The result, 36 startups, 53 social impact initiatives and over $6 million in grants generated for partners, all benefiting the region. Most importantly, enFocus has attracted over 1000 student interns and Fellows to the South Bend Elkhart region, becoming a highly successful engine for “brain gain.” Over 70% of the 150 participating Fellows since 2012, have chosen to remain in the region after the conclusion of their Fellowship.
chamber reached out to Wiand for further discussion. Here is the conversation.
Q: In your view, how can the business community better link into the efforts of enFocus for the greater good?
A: We have had tremendous success working across public, private and nonprofit organizations across the community. We are always looking for more businesses/business leaders to sponsor Innovation Projects or contribute their time, talent or treasure to advancing our mission Project sponsors benefit directly from business, technology and entrepreneurial projects that create a real return on investment for their organization and often become vehicles for new job creation in the region Business leaders can also give back by mentoring Fellows, contributing expertise through professional development activities, or by providing direct financial support to the programs. All of these avenues support the model allowing us to attract talent and bring innovation to our communities.
Q: Organizations like yours, the Chamber, our colleges & universities, WorkOne and other groups work to attract talent to our region. In your view, what’s missing? What part of the talent ecosystem still needs to be addressed?
A: As a region, we have made tremendous strides in terms of aligning services to all different segments of the population. Together, we can advance by studying and aligning our efforts to the needs that are most pressing to our regional employers. Recent studies have indicated occupational needs across our sectors that, if we can help, we might drive economic growth in our region. In parallel, we need to continue to make sure that we serve all levels of the workforce from upskilling employees, to attracting recent graduates to hiring middle management and C-suite executives. Our ecosystem has the resources and the potential to continue to grow; collaboration is the key to help all levels of the population. One last opportunity is the need for more and more digital skills across our workforce. We need to continue to increase our degree output of technical disciplines across sectors to meet the demands of the workforce of the future.
Q: How do you visualize the next 10 years of enFocus? What’s next for the organization?
A: We are so thankful for our growth over the past 10 years. We envision that we grow our depth within Northern Indiana, while also considering growth outside of the region to replicate our model. We think we can continue to grow the number of Innovation Fellows and projects across our communities. We can reach more sectors and offer more and more professional development opportunities such that our local program can scale to over 50 Fellows each year. But, it is time to consider what other communities could leverage our model. How might we become a national model for talent attraction and innovation? We will start to explore other Indiana and midwestern communities to add additional sites to our program over the next five to 10 years so we can bring the enFocus program and its success to their communities.
If you would like to engage with Andrew Wiand, please email him at a.wiand@en-focus.org.
