Amy: Hi, I’m Amy Chase and welcome to the 2007 SBA awards being held here in St. Louis. SBTV.com is here talking to some of the award winners, with me right now is Nick Akers, and you are young entrepreneur of the year. Tell me a little bit about your company Akermin, basically you’ve created a type of biofuel cell, is that right?
Nick: So our technology is based on an invention at St. Louis University, I was in graduate school at the time, and the idea is we come up with an inexpensive, highly efficient way to use catalyst in a fuel cell, specifically enzymes to convert fuels like alcohol into electricity.
Amy: So you went from having this invention to creating your own business. How did that happen?
Nick: So the university actually approached us when we invented the technology and encouraged us to start a company around it, and as an eager young graduate student, I said, that sounded like a good idea, and went to the process of licensing the technology from the university, finding funds and setting the company.
Amy: As young entrepreneur of the year, you think, people of your generation, do you think that they have more, more of the willingness to become entrepreneurs now that they’ve seen that so many people have done it, and done it successfully?
Nick: Yah, I think you certainly see that in our generation, it’s maybe a more independent generation. Willing to take risk and maybe more open to the idea of starting a company.
Amy: So a lot of people use to think that when you work for somebody else for a while and then you started your own business, but obviously you’re a success story and jumping right in.
Nick: Yeah, whether that was the best strategic approach or not, it’s what I chose and I’m having a lot of fun with it. It’s been an incredible learning experience, and I enjoy every minute of it.
Amy: So what are some other projects that you’re looking forward to in the future?
Nick: Well, for our company, our big milestone that we want to work towards is getting our technology in the hands of end users, customers, and we’re really excited about getting to that point.
Amy: And what will this mean? Is this something that we will actually be seeing in the market place, it will impact the way that we drive and the way that we work?
Nick: Well we’re not looking at the scale of automobiles, we’re looking at better replacement opportunities, so, almost anything that uses a rechargeable battery for now is a potential area for us to introduce the technology. The idea that, you know, compared to the battery that you have in your laptop now, that our technology would offer 4 to 5 times more runtime, so instead of 2 hours, maybe 10 hours.
Amy: Great, so events like this, you get to meet other entrepreneurs, what do you like to take away from these events, what do you learn?
Nick: I think when you see the other people that have won awards with later stage companies. They’ve grown them from the size that we are now to much larger, I think that’s an inspiration, a level of excellence to strive to achieve.
Amy: Okay, thank you for joining us Nick Akers, he is the young entrepreneur of the year here at the SBTV.com coverage of the SBA awards. Stay tuned to more on SBTV.com, where small business is our only business.
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