Episode 32 Jim Malsch - ”Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home”

Entrepreneur Jim Malsch sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:

0:59 1. Jim, let’s start with some background on you. In 1994 you founded Enterprise Computing Services, LLC which grew and prospered under your leadership. On December 31, 2018, you retired from ECS, after 24 years of building this great business.

 

I’ve known you for several years now and I remember that you were the first one to tell me about the expression moving from “success to significance”. How does this idea of moving from “success to significance” apply to your life?

 

2:21 2. You are incredibly involved in our community. You were previously the chairman of Cohab and have served, to name but a few things, on the advisory board for BPCC, Northwest Louisiana Technical College, the Caddo Career & Technology Center Scholarship Foundation and the Minority Supplier Institute and you recently became the new owner of Shreveport Music Company on Kings Highway across the street from Centenary College.

 

Let’s talk for a second about the entrepreneurial community here. Specifically, talk to me about how the following three organizations – EAP, Cohab and Startup Prize - collaborate and the different role each organization serves in building a stronger entrepreneurial culture in our community.

 

4:49 3. You once said, ““It doesn’t matter if it’s beer, if it’s IT or whatever. All successful businesses kinda have the same traits.”

 

Talk to me about what some of those traits are.

 

6:42 4. You have been a mentor to countless people in our community, including me. I’m curious, who are some of the people that mentored you or who have inspired and influenced your outlook on community?

 

8:14 5. You recently completed an enormous project at 717 Crockett Street, where you took a building that had been abandoned for more than 30 years and massively rehabbed it into what is now the Andress Artist & Entrepreneur Center.

 

Talk to me about all that is happening at 717 Crockett.

 

10:59 6. As you look around, what makes you optimistic about the future of our community?