Dale Fickett, Mba Email & Phone Number

United States

Richmond, Virginia, Us

Techstars Startup Weekends are 54-hour events designed to provide superior experiential education for technical and non-technical entrepreneurs. Beginning with Friday night pitches, the event continues through brainstorming, business plan development, and basic prototype creation, culminating in Sunday night demos and presentations.Participants create working startups during the event and are able to collaborate with like-minded individuals outside of their daily networks. All teams hear talks by industry leaders and receive valuable feedback from local entrepreneurs. The weekend is centered around action, innovation, and education.What’s different about this event?At the Robins School of Business, University of Richmond we prioritize Community Engagement. Creating Changemakers on-campus and beyond.We are hosting this event to encourage more changemakers to start a venture, and change the world.

Boston, Ma, Us

Pioneering financial technology to democratize business ownership. Using Explainable AI and Blockchain technologies, the organizations Fickett leads are advancing educational and financial services that help more people overcome barriers, access capital and become business owners.RVA Works is a Virginia public charity with a mission to advance entrepreneurial empowerment. Fickett serves as the Chairman of RVA Works, providing an array of community development and entrepreneurial services. As CEO of Open Trellis, Fickett is commercializing a financial technology that is a result of his research with Dr. Swati Sachan, covering: Fuzzy Cognitive Maps, Decision Support Systems, Unsecured Loan Underwriting, Credit Risk Optimization and Smart Contracts within Community Finance.Fickett regularly contributes thought leadership on economic development, related effects in asset pricing, capital markets, and implications for entrepreneurs. He is an entrepreneurship professor at the University of Richmond, and an Independent Investment Advisor. He has served in board appointments at the U.S. Senate Small Business Award Panel, the Virginia Catholic Conference, and for the Governor's Working Group, Commerce and Trade (Virginia).Fickett has lectured and conducted research on entrepreneurial finance and developmental economics. His collaborations have included the Trinity College Dublin, the Wharton School - University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia, and Northwestern University. His research is focused on community-engagement, systemic barriers to business ownership, and applications of blockchain technologies to expand Access to Capital. Previously Fickett led a venture in the retail sector, and served as a strategy consultant with Accenture’s European Financial Services practice, focused on Capital Markets and Transactions Banking. His passion is being a father to his daughter and son, as well as his missionary development work in rural Haiti.

Richmond, Va, Us

Leading research on Financial Innovations for Social Impact through capital access for new ventures and family-owned businesses:- Explainable AI for loan underwriting to expand business ownership;- Framework for evaluating innovation in small business development;- Distributed Ledger to reduce economic friction in complex business and financial planning; - Community-engaged research into the experiences of racially and ethnically diverse entrepreneurs in regional ecosystems.Developed partnerships with the Kauffman Foundation, Capital One, Federal Reserve Bank, Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Liverpool, and the Small Business Administration.Teaching New Venture Creation and Managing Innovation, covering firm strategy for accelerating Product Development, Lean Canvas, Design Thinking, Go-to-Market Strategy, Unit Economics, Scaling Growth, Startup Budgeting, Firm Valuation, Raising Capital, and Capitalization Tables.Mentoring students in pragmatic leadership, goal setting, career mapping, critical thinking, structuring ambiguous problems, optimization modelling and analytics, strategic synthesis, and executive communication.Developed strategic partnership between the RVA Works accelerator, and the establishment of the Business Clinic at the Robins School of Business – a community engagement for new business owners to benefit from student assistance on an array of strategic planning and marketing projects.

Richmond, Virginia, Us

Launched RVA Works, an initiative of Richmond’s Economic Development Authority, and under Fickett’s leadership the Regional Planning Commission accepted recommendations for a business incubation strategy, which included a new initiative to cultivate entrepreneurs in lower income communities:• Formed an advisory board of diverse business and public sector leaders, establishing community governance to combat poverty through entrepreneurship.• Led detailed strategic planning cycles, including secondary research and community focus groups to: craft the mission, vision, target operating model, change journey / roadmap of implementation phases, target budget and funding model, organizational structure, work-plan and communications strategy.• Structured core volunteer teams in the following areas: fundraising and board development, delivery of core programming, and the planning for a new Charitable Loan Fund to increase access to capital for lower-income entrepreneurs.• Instituted programming to assist lower income entrepreneurs gain access to curriculum, coaching, pathways to capital, professional networking, peer learning forums, pro bono professional services and new sales opportunities.• Created Open Trellis, a related startup venture to extend impact in additional cities by developing technology for greater access to professional connections, market information, and loan capital.• Achieved 103 program participants, 95% of whom are women- or minority-owned businesses and 58% are from lower income households, 77 program graduates of whom two-thirds have started a business. Graduates report 24 new part-time jobs, 31 new full time jobs, as well as an average 38% increase in the entrepreneurs’ annual income.• Authored whitepapers and blog articles and conference presentations on Entrepreneur Inclusion, Startup Acceleration, Lean Startup, financial modelling and valuation, Capital Access, Sustainability, regional innovation strategy, and community engagement.

Dublin, Ie

This work culminated in the publication of "Developmental Entrepreneurship in Sub Sahara Africa: Assessing Financial and Social Returns" and "Toolkit for Development of a Sucessful MSME Fund in Africa". The paper focuses on Developmental Entrepreneurship in the context of Sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA). A model of Developmental Entrepreneurship Outcomes along the dimensions of financial and social returns is introduced. The model is applied at a national level to the forty six countries of SSA. Fifteen are found to be attractive environments for poverty alleviation from micro, small and medium enterprise activity with Mozambique, Rwanda and Zambia having the most attractive environments. The results from the model are found to correlate with data from the World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Survey and the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.The subsequent work at the Wharton School, involved the creation of a Field Application Project for second year MBA students to develop a set of recommendations for the mobilization of an investment fund to support related startup opportunities. "Toolkit for Development of a Successful MSME Fund in Africa" resulted in a set of recommendations, spanning: competitive landscape, scorecard evaluation, analysis of potential partnering organizations, analysis of relevant industry sectors, and proposed fund structure.

Dublin 2, Ie

Served as a strategist in the UK and Irish markets, focused primarily in the banking sector.• Managed large components of a new product strategy for SEPA Direct Debit in a top 4 UK bank, structuring the problem, validating quantitative modeling / valuation, gaining stakeholder consensus for the new customer value proposition, and crafting an implementation plan.• Collaborated as a Payment Services Directive expert within a compliance project in a top 4 UK bank – contributing within the proposal, presenting the delivery approach, mobilizing the team, creating delivery plans, and establishing the PMO.• Authored thought leadership and methodology on the strategic impacts of payments regulation, detailing: new market context and opportunities, operating model implications, and alliance strategy (i.e. Merger & Acquisition, Valuation, Post-Merger Integration). Managed a UK and Ireland sales campaign, with oversight covering: marketing, tracking the pipeline, organizing team development activities, managing stakeholder relationships, and overseeing administrative activity.• Supported partners in the achievement of annual growth over 120%.• Assisted in sales efforts with 12 large banks – developing plans for new business opportunities, researching market trends, writing and presenting sales materials, and mobilizing client projects. • Served as an Accenture subject-matter expert, presenting at the International ePayments Intensive, and at the SWIFT global industry conference. Led an IT Service Management improvement program to re-engineer processes within a leading Irish bank.• Completed the initiating activities, including: scope definition, delivery approach, stakeholder engagement plan, governance structure, communications plan and establishment of the PMO.• Directed project work stream efforts to complete the planning phase, including: refined scope statement, team recruitment, estimates of effort, schedule, budget, and assessments of issues and risks.

Philadelphia, Pa, Us

Guided community entrepreneurs through bi-weekly meetings focused on progress against their action plans, advising them on solutions to implementation challenges:• Mentored over 30 entrepreneurial teams to achieve compelling business plans and through the execution of their action plans for launch / growth activities, combining pragmatic advice with theoretical tools.• Provided key assistance to the director on the creation of the Execution Support Program.• Built trust-based relationships with entrepreneurs by demonstrating first-hand experience, academic knowledge, and an authentic desire to help them.

Held end-to-end responsibility for a start-up venture from concept initiation to business closure:• Conceived the venture concept from inception, including retail store fronts, wholesale distribution, and direct-to-consumer business lines built around premium chocolate and confections.• Conducted comprehensive research on the gourmet chocolate and confections market ($14.6B nationally); and the national and local market for fudge.• Formulated the business strategy, including: opportunity identification, industry analysis, market positioning & value proposition creation; and functional strategy.• Raised required start-up capital through SBA-backed loans and personal debt, having written a compelling business plan and having formed the start-up team.• Achieved year 1 launch of the retail, wholesale and eCommerce business lines; and learned to avoid overly an aggressive launch.• Demonstrated leadership through corporate philosophy development, social responsibility position, especially the use of Fair Trade Certified products; and designation as a “Net Impact Leader in Action”.

Dublin 2, Ie

Managed multiple project teams delivering technical integration and business solutions for financial services clients in Ireland:• Delivered the technical integration of testing environments and the disaster recovery protocols, related to the integration of a new payments engine, within the Capital Markets division of a leading Irish bank. • Managed the delivery of the Euro currency conversion project within a leading Irish stock brokerage.• Developed core project management skills (e.g. PMI), and spanning scope, time management, risk and issue management, quality management, budgeting, and team leadership.

Led the establishment of a new social finance organization to assist in poverty alleviation in Sub-Saharan Africa through small businesses whose growth will drive investor returns and community impact. This organization focused in three areas: 1) Ensuring the availability of SME impact loans; 2) Supporting ventures with support services; and 3) Driving innovative research to better enable capital deployment decisions:• Co-authored “Developmental Entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa – Assessing Financial and Social Returns” with Dr. Louis Brennan, Director of Post-Graduate Research Programmes, covering: a new conceptual model to assess developmental entrepreneurship opportunities, application for national markets, and corroboration of findings though recognized datasets.• Sponsored an MBA team at the Wharton School, who created “Toolkit for Development of a Successful MSME Fund in Africa”, including: assessment of the market for SME funding, identification of profitable impact opportunities, and an approach to mobilize resources.• Created a new opportunity identification and assessment toolkit for development entrepreneurs, including: introduction to business planning, guided templates for capturing market trends, and a reference business plan.• Supported the work of two Zimbabwean entrepreneurs assessing their new venture opportunities. • Lectured at Villanova University, discussing "Developmental Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice", covering: global development context, African economic overview, and the entrepreneurial opportunity.• Conducted additional research covering: existing findings in economics and management literature, development stakeholders, African economic development, private investment and growth, and poverty alleviation through entrepreneurship. • Launched fundraising and networking activities across the stakeholder community, including Harvard University, Babson College, Accenture Development Partnerships and the IFC.

Dale focused on risk advisory for both high-potential start-ups and growth ventures across a range of industry sectors. Leveraging his core skills in business strategy and a passion for entrepreneurship, Dale engaged MidSouth Assurance clients on business planning, strategic risk management, and appropriate mitigation controls and risk transfer. As a licensed broker, he represented clients’ in their purchases of Commercial Property & Casualty Insurance. He also authored "Emerging Risk: Data Security & Cyber Liability".

Richmond, Va, Us

Taught Foundations of Business I and II, cross-disciplinary courses for undergraduate students in the School of Business. Courses leverage lecture, group study, case study and discussion to provide an introduction to the key concepts of:• Business Planning• Communications• Leadership• Strategy• Organizational Structure & Talent• Marketing & Sales• Accounting• Finance• Legal Structures• Information Technology• Social Responsibility

Mba, Entrepreneurship

Executive Education, European Economics

Bsba, Management & Finance