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Near the end of the Alabama-LSU National Championship game, I looked at All-American and Heisman Trophy finalist Tyrann Mathieu sitting forlornly and lonely on the bench, and wondered whether he knew that his “Honey Badger” nickname was a specialty drink — a Jack Daniels honey brew reportedly infused into a new beer product.

It was quite likely being slurped while he sweated in both LSU’s home town of Baton Rouge and New Orleans, the site of the game. I wonder if he knew that the new beer is the product of a budding joint venture between his school and a for-profit beer microbrewery near the LSU practice field in which he toils – but cannot indulge. The Tin Roof Brewing Company announced its partnership with LSU to market a light ale packaged in the LSU school colors. LSU chancellor Mike Martin reportedly supports the venture, potentially making LSU the first major university to officially license a school beer.

The beer itself would be named after a famed defensive unit from the LSU 1958 national championship team, but that is just the base ingredient for the “Honey Badger.” Most of America had never sipped the term until they were exposed to Mathieu’s scintillating punt returns, interceptions, and saliently, a honey colored Mohawk strip in his hair style. The phenomenonleft us collectively salivating for more. During several games, including the National Championship on college football’s biggest media stage, Mathieu was repeatedly called “The Honey Badger”. Needless to say, there are plenty of LSU licensed Honey Badger t-shirts, sweatshirts, and other beer belly cover ups from which LSU gains a royalty. That royalty, I suspect, does not trickle down in any significant way to the teenage star that generated the buzz – pun intended.

As the Honey Badger funeral-walked off the field I also wondered whether he was going back to dorm or apartment, living on a shoestring like most African American major college football players. He is one of five children born in New Orleans. Mathieu’s father has been incarcerated every day of his Tyrann’s life. During his formative years, Tyrann’s mother was not around much so he was raised through loving default of his grandparents in the core city. I wonder if he knew everyone seems to be making money from the buzz creator except the creator.

Why not just create a trust fund for Tyrann’s post-graduation use, and his grandparents if he likes. This is not a radical concept. Trust funds have been in existence since Moses was a baby. It is a more equitable way of dealing with profitability in college than a blanket waiver of all related intellectual property rights by the athlete especially when he is in financial need. As a practical matter, the college football player has no real alternative than to play the minor league sport of college football if he wants to play professional football. So he has no choice but to sign the waiver as part of gaining NCAA eligibility.  A trust fund is just what it says, funds held in trust for someone else. The university could hold a reasonable proportion the revenue generated from the use of a player’s intellectual property (like a Honey Badger nickname). LSU is to receive a 10% royalty from the beer, if approved by its governing board. Why not put a royalty amount in trust for the one who is most responsible for generating the revenue?

Royalties need not only be for “royalty” like the multi-million dollar universities. They can be shared with those who create the revenue, even if they are students. It is only a timing event for receipt. We do this all the time when determining if there is a taxable event on previously earned income. Deferred compensation packages, stock option schemes are just a few examples. The issue is not if you are entitled to the money, just a matter of when. If we determine players are entitled, it is fundamentally no different here. Players can deserve proceeds from use of their name, and just defer receipt of the compensation until after he graduates – a reasonable condition for receipt.

Some say the best way to rob a bank is to own one. Then you can receive an excessive bonus and even make out fine with stock options during bailouts or bankruptcy via Chapter 11 reorganizations. It appears the best way to profit from college players is to administrate them. We can change that if there is the institutional will among the NCAA and its member institutions. Of course it is also possible to have federal campaign finance reform but that doesn’t mean it will happen.

The best shot may just be a fandom uprising like the woman who started a social media revolt causing Bank of America to retract its higher fees to customers for accessing their own money. But what are you going to do, boycott the games? We seem to love the school more than the people who play them. Are LSU students going to transfer to … ‘Bama?  So it will be interesting to see whether LSU students and the Bayou community mount a protest to the governing board prior to upcoming final approval of the beer joint venture. I rather doubt it. Louisiana has been ranked the 5^th largest beer consumption state in America. I would not be shocked if they loved there beer traditions more than they love the idea of player economic equity.

And will LSU voluntarily vote against its own economic interests? Will the NCAA make them? Since LSU cannot sell alcohol inside the stadium, the chancellor wants to profit from alcohol outside the stadium.  LSU had over 90,000 people inside the stadium for each of its 6 home games this season. The one game they played in West Virginia where alcohol sales were allowed brought revenue of over $120,000, thoughBug Lights were sold out by halftime. The math is alluring. No. I should say the revenue is alluring.

If LSU’s board approves the deal, what semblance of fairness is left to its amateurism principles? The justification for preventing professionalism of players is the nonprofit status of educational institutions. The endeavor of educating students is not supposed to be profit first, educate students as a byproduct. And because of that hallowed environment, the players, too, are not allowed to profit since they too are in school for education, not to be current professionals — i.e. profit-first individuals while in school. So it seems to me amateurism at bottom is tied to the non-profit nature of educational institutions. The more the institution profits at the expense of the players the less justification it has to prevent profits to those players. So if a school profits from a player’s nickname, and what’s worse, does so by fostering and profiting from booze among students, it loses its moral high ground. It would seem to me to be a hypocritical one-sided standard for the school to bend the purist standard for itself but not the students who they profess are the reason the school exists.

Roger M. Groves is a professor of law at Florida Coastal School of Law and Director of the Center for Sports and Social Entrepreneurship. Follow him at Twitter@rgroveslaw and http://center4players.com

Article source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/sportsmoney/2012/01/10/lsu-shouldnt-profit-from-star-players-honey-badger-nickname/

Courtesy of Runa.Tyler Gage (left) and Dan MacCombie at a trade show

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The adventure of new ventures.

Forget its mild-mannered reputation: tea is not for the faint of heart.  Last year, the United States tea industry brought in $6.5 billion thanks to a roster of heavy hitting, fiercely competitive brands, ranging from Honest Tea to Tazo and old-time stalwarts like Lipton.

So what are the chances that Runa – a start-up company peddling an obscure Amazonian leaf called guayusa – can elbow its way into this already crowded scene? Combine seemingly long odds with Runa’s unlikely provenance: In 2008, a pair of Brown University undergrads, one doing linguistic research in the Amazon, the other studying marine biology, rerouted their career paths to become entrepreneurs after encountering the caffeinated guayusa leaf, which steeps into a potent brew, and realizing it hadn’t yet been commercialized.

Founders: Former classmates Tyler Gage and Dan MacCombie, both 26, founded Runa and are the company’s president and executive vice president, respectively.

Employees: Runa has 5 full-time employees in Brooklyn, 30 in Ecuador.

Location: Headquartered in Brooklyn, N.Y., with Ecuadorian offices in Quito and Archidona.

Pitch: “We’re a beverage company that creates livelihoods for indigenous farmers in the Amazon,” Mr. Gage said, “and we produce beverages made from guayusa tea, which has more caffeine than any tea and double the antioxidants of green tea. It’s an energy offering in the tea space.”

On top of providing income to some 1,000 farmers, Mr. Gage said Runa puts money into a “social premium fund” the workers can tap collectively to finance local development projects. “Runa” means “fully living human being” in Kichwa, an indigenous language spoken in Ecuador and Colombia.

Traction: Runa’s first big boost came in 2009, when the company won two contests in quick succession: a business plan competition at Brown University’s Entrepreneurship Program, and the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition, bringing in more than $70,000 in cash and services.

Runa’s tea bags and loose tea went on the market less than a year ago and are now available at some 1,200 stores nationwide, including Whole Foods, Kings, the Vitamin Shoppe and Wegmans. Runa also sells loose tea to larger companies — Stash and Oregon Chai, to name a couple — that use the leaves in their own blends. In March, Runa plans to introduce a line of bottled beverages, focusing at first on the New York and Boston markets.

Revenue: Runa’s revenue for last year was $277,000, according to Mr. Gage. He expects Runa to surpass $1 million in sales for 2012.

Financing: Runa has received grants totaling $500,000 from the United States Agency for International Development and Corporación Andina de Fomento, a Latin American development bank. In November, the company closed a $1.6 million round of angel investments. Now, Mr. Gage is seeking $2 million in a Series A equity round, which he hopes to close by the end of the fiscal year’s second quarter.

Runa’s most unusual backers so far? The government of Ecuador, led by socialist president Rafael Correa. In October, the country’s Ministry of Production put $500,000 into the company through a national investment program.

“The social aspect of the company’s business model — the high wages to farmers, the social benefit fund, and support for sustainable farming — are the real reason Ecuador is wise to play venture capitalist to a Brooklyn business,” wrote Alex Goldmark, a GOOD magazine contributing editor, in a recent post about the unusual investment.

But the government’s direct influence, Mr. Gage said, is limited.  “They’re very much in the backseat,” he said. “They have one of six board seats.”

Marketing: “We sponsor a lot of events, everything from design challenges to fundraisers, anywhere we can donate tea,” Mr. Gage said. The company targets young professionals with “office drops” of product samples and holds frequent tastings in grocery stores, along with guerilla offerings at concerts, in parks and on the street.

Competition: Though Runa claims to be the lone exporter of guayusa, the company faces stiff competition from purveyors of other kinds of tea, along with energy drink manufacturers and companies selling yerba mate, another South American tea-like caffeinated beverage.

Challenge:  “The biggest challenge right now is marketing,” Mr. Gage said. “We’ve actually done more than we expected in terms of getting the product on the shelf. It all comes down to getting people to try it.”

With so many teas and energy drinks already on the market, do you think Runa can build – and keep – a niche of its own?

Article source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/a-brooklyn-tea-company-backed-by-a-socialist-president/

“[President Benigno S.C. Aquino III] is committed to enhancing the quality of higher education and increasing the competitiveness of our state universities and colleges. He decided to expand the funds for public tertiary education to give Filipino students a much-needed educational boost, as well as to upgrade the standards of excellence among our SUCs,” Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said in a statement yesterday.

The additional budget will be taken from the P13.4-billion spending package Mr. Aquino approved last month in order to boost public spending and economic growth. Of the P4.2 billion, P3.356 billion will support institutional capacity-building activities in leading SUCs.

These include funds for upgrading key infrastructure and facilities (P2.631 billion), grant-in-aid for research, development and extension (P560 million) and executive development (P165 million).

Moreover, P427.8 million will fund the Modernization of Higher Education Facilities project which will infuse critical investments in leading SUCs in the regions.

Meanwhile, P500 million will go to the Grants-in-Aid program which helps poor students complete college by providing them with tuition fees, monthly living stipends and other allowances.

Grant beneficiaries are selected from the poorest families in the country, to be identified by the Department of Social Welfare and Development. In particular, it chooses youth who are ineligible for the government’s conditional transfer program but are nonetheless unable to pursue gainful employment. The selected students can enroll in any of the government’s priority courses: entrepreneurship, science and technology, agriculture and fisheries.

SUCs can qualify for the additional funding once they signify their commitment to the reform road map currently being designed by the Commission on Higher Education, the Budget department and the schools themselves, Mr. Abad said.

Among the measures outlined in the reform plan are: the alignment of course offerings with the government’s economic priorities; the movement toward a regional university system; the development of stronger links to relevant industries, especially through research and development; faculty development and job placements; and transparent and accountable financial management.

SUCs were initially granted a budget of P26.1 billion in this year’s national budget. — Diane Claire J. Jiao

Article source: http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Economy&title=Additional-funding-of-P4.2B-to-benefit-state-universities&id=44829

MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino has ordered the Budget Department to release an additional P4.2 billion for state universities and colleges (SUCs) in line with the government’s aim to improve the quality of higher education in the country.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said the amount is part of the P13.4 billion that the President allocated for the Disbursement Acceleration Plan.

“He decided to expand the funds for public tertiary education to give Filipino students a much-needed educational boost, as well as to upgrade the standards of excellence among our SUCs,” he said.

He added that SUCs may qualify for the added funds once they signify their commitment to the reform roadmap being designed by the Commission on Higher Education, the DBM, and the SUCs themselves.

Among the measures outlined in the reform plan include the alignment of SUC course offerings with the Aquino administration’s job-generation and economic-growth priorities; the movement toward the amalgamation of the regional university system; the development of stronger links to relevant industries, including research and development; faculty development and job placements; as well as transparent and accountable financial management, among others.

Of the P4.2 billion, P3.356 billion will support institutional capacity building activities in leading SUCs. These include funds for upgrading key infrastructure and facilities (P2.631 billion), grant-in-aid for research, development and extension (P560 million) and executive development (165 million).

“This project will address the challenge of providing better access to quality higher education and to generate, adapt, and transfer technologies for enhancing productivity, alleviating poverty, and improving the country’s education competitiveness,” Abad said.

Part of the P4.2 billion is the P500 million Grants-in-Aid program for poverty alleviation that will support qualified students to complete a college degree. The students will come from the poorest families as identified by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

The grant program will focus on vulnerable youth who are ineligible for the conditional transfer program (CCT), but who are nonetheless unable to pursue gainful employment.

The beneficiaries will be directed to enrol in priority courses, including science and technology, agriculture/fisheries as well entrepreneurship, in leading universities in several regions. The students will be provided with tuition, monthly living stipends, and other allowances.

Likewise, P427.8 million has been earmarked for the Modernization of Higher Education Facilities project for leading SUCs. 

Article source: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/01/10/12/state-universities-colleges-get-budget-boost