Loyola’s version of New Orleans Entrepreneur Week isn’t just for ‘tech founders in hoodies’.

New Orleans Entrepreneur Week, an annual celebration of business startups, turns 16 this year.

And, like many teenagers, the experience is trying a new identity.

NOEW began in 2010, when business leaders in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans were looking for ways to create and maintain jobs in the city. In the years that followed, its nonprofit creator experimented with different formats, partnered with various partners and piggybacked on other events to increase awareness and participation.

Now, for the first time, Loyola University New Orleans has taken over the production of this event, shifting the focus from high-growth businesses and focusing on supporting emerging businesses of all kinds and expanding the school’s role as a gathering place for the regional business community.

Highlights of the five-day event include a conversation between New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno and political podcaster Tim Miller; a keynote address from former Tesla and Lyft executive Jon McNeill; and a speech from Nicola Corzine, of the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center, which recently published a report praising New Orleans’ early growth.

In total, more than 70 speakers are prepared to support the next group of “tech founders in hoodies” as well as businesses of all kinds that reflect the diversity and reality of the economy of southern Louisiana, according to Lisa LaCour, part of the NOEW programming team.

“Business in New Orleans has always looked diverse, whether it’s musicians building hospitality empires, restaurant owners becoming creative entrepreneurs, or community organizers turning social events into sustainable businesses,” said LaCour, founder of marketing firm The Vault Collective. “We didn’t celebrate that as loudly as we should have.”

‘You don’t have to play ringleader’

NOEW begins Monday, March 9, at various satellite locations around the city and continues throughout the week, moving to the Loyola campus for a two-day conference on Thursday and Friday, March 12-13.

Several panels examine business models based on music, art and community. One will see Louisiana’s plans for tech innovation. There will be fundraising advice, a look at multinational family businesses and discussions about historically black colleges or universities as engines of Black innovation. A “crazy ideas” challenge offers up to $5,000 in scholarships and other prizes.

The new wellness program includes a “networking walk” around Audubon Park, breathing exercises and a 10-minute meditation demonstration. Event planners say brainstorming sessions are designed to improve clarity, decision-making and composure – all essential to running a successful business.

“The mission of our school and the purpose of the event is to bring as many people together as possible,” said Sam McCabe, director of Loyola’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Community Development, which oversees NOEW programming. “Whether you’re starting an ice cream shop or a tech startup, this community wants to build you up.”

Organizers say the overall process reflects Loyola Jesuit’s approach — and NOEW’s role changes in the emergence of New Orleans’ first event.

Sixteen years ago, The Idea Village, the non-profit business startup that started NOEW, was one of the few organizations in town that served the community, so the event was a way to promote it. Now, the phenomenon has grown and spread.

Tulane University and Ochsner Health have both launched technology-focused organizations to support new businesses. The Nieux is on St. Charles Avenue hosts a series of new-themed events. Economic development groups like Greater New Orleans Inc. and Louisiana Economic Development have done a great job of starting things up. New venture capital firms, such as Boot64, Corridor Ventures and 1834 Ventures, have sprung up to find promising small companies. And at least one new private equity fund is planning big bets on some big businesses.

Because of this growth, organizers say, NOEW’s mission is less about starting an event than it is about getting everyone together and on the same page for a few days each year.

“In the beginning, they had to prove something other than nothing,” said Matt Wolfe, chief marketing officer at GNO Inc., a nonprofit economic development organization that provides NOEW with financial and strategic support. “Now we have a legitimate startup, capital on the table and a successful company that ‘comes out,’ so they no longer have to play ringleader in the same way.”

For Bobby Savoie, head of Loyola’s Joseph A. Butt, SJ College of Business and founder of several successful software companies, NOEW is also an opportunity to connect promising students with potential employers while bringing energy to the business program he has led for the past two years.

Savoie said last year’s event, which attracted about 3,000 people across the city and 1,200 at Loyola, was well received by students, faculty and participants.

“Bringing together entrepreneurs, investors and speakers on campus has been great,” he said. “We found that this could work.”

‘Like rock stars’

The seeds of NOEW began in 2006, when the Idea Village partnered with Tulane to connect MBA students with entrepreneurs seeking help after Katrina. Over the next several years, out-of-town students from Stanford University and other schools joined the debate, along with employees of companies like Google and Salesforce.

In 2009, organizers brought all the teams together for a one-week challenge at Tulane’s business school. In 2010, they changed the name of the event to NOEW and added a competition for foreign businesses.

That year, West Coast businessman Jim Coulter, with ties to New Orleans, joined as a financial assistant and program assistant. For several years afterward, he contributed to the growth of NOEW.

By 2012, the annual gathering was attracting hundreds of attendees for a “fan vote” contest that had Mardi Gras parade energy.

“The people on stage are like rock stars or Saints players,” said Tim Williamson, co-founder and former CEO of The Idea Village. “Entrepreneurship had become part of our culture.”

NOEW continued to grow in the 2010s with help from partner organizations. After the outbreak, organizers tried different formats, adding a live music festival once a year, and launching the “NOEW in Your Neighborhood” series of events throughout the metro area.

But the biggest change came at the hand of Loyola’s production, who created the event last year with The Idea Village and took it over completely this year.

Idea Village CEO Jon Atkinson said the move helps his organization focus on the needs of startup-funded, high-growth startups and allows NOEW to return to its roots and become “a place where New Orleans comes together to see the future.”

Filling the gap on the map

This change freed The Idea Village to launch a joint event, the 3rd Coast Venture Summit. An invitation-only conference scheduled for the same week is designed to connect promising Gulf South companies with international investors.

Andrew Albert, executive director at The Idea Village, said the goal of the three-year conference is to promote the region’s skills in industries such as marine, energy and manufacturing while making investors accustomed to coming to New Orleans to look for opportunities, filling the gap on the map between Houston and Atlanta.

“We want to serve anyone who is ‘Gulf South curious,'” he said. “JPMorgan Chase alone is investing $400 million in the region, and this is a sign that investors see value in what we create here.”

The meeting will take place Tuesday and Wednesday, March 10-11, at the Common House New Orleans, and then they will go to the Loyola campus to have a breakfast that will combine these two events.

Savoie said the one-two punch will show the potential of the city’s business community.

“We have a great ecosystem built here,” he said. “If you give these companies permission to succeed and give them support, they’re going to kick ass.”