The Tayloe Murphy Center at the Darden School will introduce the Tayloe Murphy Resilience Awards Competition this spring, a state-based competition that aims to recognize entrepreneurs that have thrived despite a struggling economy.
The awards are designed to recognize local businesses that have continued to grow, regardless of the hard economic hits to the local community, said Assoc. Darden Prof. Gregory Fairchild, who also is the Center's executive director.
Specifically, the awards are geared toward "innovative and thought-leading entrepreneurs who know how to utilize unique strengths of the community even in a challenging economy," said Marc Johnson, associate director of the Center.
The Darden School will offer a week-long executive education course to the recipients that will cater to their businesses' needs, Fairchild said. The recipients also will be given the opportunity to tell the stories of their small businesses so as to garner publicity and more support for their hard work, Fairchild said.
"The survival of small businesses in a downturned economy has become a national issue, but there's not often a voice for these businesses to get attention through," he said. "Hopefully, association with this award will bring them the attention they deserve."
The competition is the first of Fairchild's efforts to engage local communities through the Tayloe Murphy Center, said Beth Schmidt, director of media relations for the Darden School.
"We are really thinking long and hard about the ways we can engage the university community, communities around the commonwealth and communities where the economy is not that great," Fairchild said. "We want to be a part of distributing our knowledge about business."
The competition will be open to all state-wide entrepreneurs, Schmidt said. Applications will be available online April 1, and the awards will be given out Sept. 1.
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