Universal Introduces StartUp Tennessee to Memphis

Darrell Cobbins (center), president and CEO of Universal Commercial, speaks with Startup Tennessee representatives David Warren (right) and Eddie Solis before the Minority Business Enterprise Regional Power Breakfast at the University Club. Warren and his Nashville-based team spoke at the monthly gathering as part of a tour of entrepreneurial hot-spots in the region.

FROM THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL
Fresh on the heels of Thursday's announcement that Memphis Bioworks was selected as site of one of nine regional entrepreneurial accelerators in Tennessee, leaders with Gov. Bill Haslam's Startup Tennessee initiative were in Memphis touting the Bluff City's support of entrepreneurship.

Speaking to more than 100 minority and female business leaders at Friday's MBE Regional Power Breakfast at the University Club, Startup Tennessee official David Warren urged the attendees to change the community, the state and the nation.

"You can see the seeds of entrepreneurial growth here, right before your very eyes," said Warren, director of operations at Startup Tennessee. "With organizations such as Memphis Bioworks and EmergeMemphis leading the way, your city is part of something very new. You're a trailblazer."

That's because Memphis has more than a decade's worth of experience supporting and nurturing startups with high growth potential through business incubators and accelerators such as Bioworks, Emerge and the Mid-South Minority Business Council Continuum.

And the news that Bioworks will act as the fiscal agent for the new regional accelerator -- in conjunction with about two dozen partner organizations -- is a model for entrepreneurial collaborations statewide.

"Tennessee is leading the nation in developing entrepreneurial ecosystems and Memphis is leading this movement," Warren said. "There's a new paradigm of job creation and growth and it begins with startups and entrepreneurial activity. Our goal is to connect leaders across the state and merge best practices in cities and rural areas to strengthen our entrepreneurial community."

Startup Tennessee is a public/private sector program launched by Haslam earlier this year that is designed to link business incubators and accelerators across Tennessee and include information on programming, mentoring and funding.

Heading up the state network is Michael Burcham, CEO of The Entrepreneur Center in Nashville. Funding -- projected to be $250,000 per year for three years -- is from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. The funds will be used to develop and implement programming for Startup Tennessee, including creating a website, offering training opportunities and connecting entrepreneurs to mentors and investors.

And that deserves support from business communities across Tennessee, said Donnell Cobbins Jr., vice president of Universal Commercial and one of the hosts of Friday's forum.

"Building up these accelerators will generate jobs for the community and create a positive economic impact," Cobbins said.

Megan Jones, an entrepreneur and mentor-in-residence at Emerge, agreed.

"It's important to cultivate more self-reliance and more risk tolerance here," Jones said. "What we have here are a lot of good ideas, but what we don't have are a lot of people trained to take risks in the right way. I hope that this program will offer education for the community at large and help us start to think differently to help mitigate the risk for startups."

For more information on the Startup Tennessee program, visit online at tennessee.startupamerica partnership.org

-- James Dowd: (901) 529-2737

Regional MBE Power Breakfast

What: Holiday networking mixer and "Dr. J.E. Walker and A. Maceo Walker Entrepreneurial Medal of Honor" presentation

When: 7:30-9 a.m., Dec. 2

Where: University Club, 1346 Central

Cost: $15

Details: Call (901) 414-3315, ext. 2

"You can see the seeds of entrepreneurial growth here, right before your very eyes."

David Warren, MBE Regional Power Breakfast at the University Club, Startup Tennessee official

Universal Fulfills Long-Standing Real Estate Legacy

FROM THE MEMPHIS DAILY NEWS
(Photo: Lance Murphey)

Memphis Small Business Spotlight

Universal Commercial Built On Deep Family Legacy
By JEFF IRELAND
Updated 4:11PM

For some people, the prospect of working with one’s brother, wife and mother on a daily basis would be a less than enticing proposition.

Darrell Cobbins, right, is president and Donnell Cobbins is vice president of Universal Commercial Real Estate.

But as far as Darrell Cobbins, the owner, president and CEO of Memphis-based Universal Commercial LLC, is concerned, there’s no other way he’d rather do business.

“I’m real big on trust,” said Cobbins, who founded the real estate business that focuses on tenant representation and brokerage services four years ago. “Nobody will have your back, or your best interests at heart, like your family. For three generations we’ve been a real estate family. It’s not a hard hurdle to get over. It’s actually very rewarding to continue a legacy that was started more than 50 years ago.”

In the 1950s, Cobbins’ grandfather, Samuel Cobbins, developed one of Memphis’ first black middle-income neighborhoods, Lake View Gardens, located in Southwest Memphis off Horn Lake Road.

The 400-house subdivision housed African-American professionals who were pursuing, as Darrell Cobbins puts it, “the American dream.”

Samuel Cobbins also mentored several real estate professionals who went on to enjoy long and successful careers.

Darrell Cobbins is doing his best to continue to build on his grandfather’s real estate success, albeit in different ways.

When Cobbins first started the company, Universal Commercial had basically one client.

Today the company has clients in the private sector like FedEx and in the government sector like the city of Memphis.

Universal Commercial is licensed in Arkansas and will soon be in Mississippi. The plan over the next three years is to have offices in Little Rock and Jackson, Miss.

“We see ourselves evolving as a regional services firm where we can service clients in those markets,” Cobbins said. “We plan on growing and building a client base in those areas. … We also plan on adding more brokers to our team to help grow the company and grow the footprint. Building and growing the team and expanding our service area geographically is what’s at the forefront of my mind over the next three to five years.”

Cobbins said Universal Commercial is different than larger companies like Colliers International and CB Richard Ellis.

“We’re not into property management,” Cobbins said. “We’re not leasing to fill up buildings. We’re on the other side of the table. We focus on market knowledge, market expertise, negotiation and representation for businesses going into properties.”

While Cobbins’ grandfather was instrumental in his success, his current family is a big part of the operation now.

His mother, Shirley Cobbins, is a licensed agent with the firm who worked with Samuel Cobbins. Cobbins’ wife, Mickey, joined the company in 2007 and handles the company’s operations. A younger cousin, who was a student at Lemoyne-Owen College, has interned at the company.

And his older brother, Donnell Cobbins, is also a licensed agent and part of the team.

Like his brother, Donnell Cobbins said he sees working with family members as a positive.

“It’s actually rewarding,” he said. “We’re uniquely connected. We know each other very well. … There’s a saying that if two people always think alike, one of those folks is not needed. Darrell and I bounce a lot of ideas off one another. We work collaboratively to service the needs of our clients. I think we do a pretty good job of working together.”

Darrell Cobbins graduated from Memphis University School in 1991. He earned his bachelor’s degree in anthropology and sociology from Rhodes College and a master’s degree from the University of Memphis in business administration.

His first job in real estate came in 2001 as a broker with Commercial Advisors LLC and he also worked for Guardsmark and the Greater Memphis Chamber.

When he was a student he wrote a paper about his grandfather.

“He’s legendary in the Memphis real estate community,” Cobbins said. “He helped a lot of people who otherwise wouldn’t have become homeowners. He laid a long legacy for us to pick up and try and carry forward.”

Bankers Panel Marks Third Installment in Power Breakfast Series (August 2011)

Executives urge small and startup businesses to build close banking relationships
By James Dowd
Memphis Commercial Appeal
Posted August 6, 2011 at midnight


Photo by Brandon Dill // Buy this photo

Panelist Joy Bowen talks with Roby Williams before the start of Friday's Minority Business Enterprise Power Breakfast. Likening it to a medical checkup, Bowen urged new business owners to meet regularly with their bankers to head off problems.

While accessing capital is a challenge for many small-business owners, securing adequate financing can prove even more difficult for minority and female entrepreneurs who lack established contacts within financial networks.

That's why developing close relationships with local lenders should be a top priority for entrepreneurs, a panel of financial industry leaders advised during "The Million Dollar Question" forum held at the University Club on Friday.

Sponsored by Universal Commercial real estate company, the event featured panelists Joy Bowen, vice president of diversity banking at First Tennessee Bank; Dorothy Cleaves, vice president of private banking at Paragon National Bank;

Joshua Shipley, vice president of commercial banking at Independent Bank; and Shawn Thomas, vice president of lending at Tri-State Bank of Memphis.

"The first thing I tell anyone thinking of starting a business is to develop a relationship right away with a lender and not wait until a crisis occurs to ask for an extended credit line," Cleaves said. "Open an account, get to know your lender personally and be completely transparent about your finances. In this economy, you've got to be proactive if you want to survive."

Bowen agreed, comparing regular visits to bankers to routine trips to see dentists or doctors.

"You go for a physical or a dental checkup to make sure there aren't any problems or to detect them early on and take care of them," Bowen said. "Use that same mentality with your lender and schedule regular meetings to go over your business operations. You'll be in a much better position to apply for extra capital if you're engaged in the process from the front end."

A midyear report released by the National Small Business Association indicated that more than one-third of small-business owners are facing difficulty obtaining adequate financing for their companies. The issue is exacerbated because many small-business owners don't have adequate assets to apply for traditional loans.

Recognizing that some entrepreneurs may not qualify for institutional financing, Thomas said that alternate sources of lending should also be explored.

"You may want to consider using your personal savings or taking on investors or even working with venture capitalists if you're willing to give up some level of control," Thomas said. "The bottom line is, if your business idea is important enough to pursue, then you need to be diligent about maintaining the finances to keep it going."

Recent economic conditions have led many small-business owners to resist taking on added debt, Shipley said, due to fears of paying loans back. However, he stressed that banks are committed to helping small companies through a variety of avenues.

"We've got credit counseling services and resources available to help small-business owners grow their operations," Shipley said. "We want them to succeed, because that helps us from a business perspective and it benefits the community by creating jobs and wealth."

And that's imperative for the future of the city, said Tomeka Hart, president and CEO of the Memphis Urban League and a commissioner on the Memphis City Schools board.

"There's a disparity of wealth in our community, but supporting minority and female-owned small businesses can create a lasting positive impact in Memphis," Hart said. "It's a huge economic issue, but when one succeeds, we all succeed because our community prospers."

-- James Dowd: (901) 529-2737

Universal Hosts 2nd Regional Power Breakfast (July 2011)

From the Commercial Appeal:


About a dozen years ago, concerns about his approaching retirement led Circuit Court Judge George Brown Jr. to pursue a new career.
Wanting to provide a lasting financial legacy for his family, Brown decided becoming a small business owner would serve him -- and them -- well.
"It wasn't that I had a business degree or any experience, but I wanted to leave something behind and the truth is, you can't leave your family a judgeship in your will," Brown said. "So I put together a good team, we bought an existing business and today we're doing OK."
In fact, Brown is doing better than OK. After purchasing Memphis Chemical & Janitorial Supply Company in 2000, Brown worked part time with the business until he retired from the bench in 2005. Since then, he's taken the company from yearly sales of around $500,000 when he bought it to more than $7 million in annual sales today.

He shared some of the lessons he's learned during "Keys To The C-Suite: Competitive Strategies for Winning Corporate Contracts" at the University Club on Friday. The event was sponsored by the Universal Commercial real estate company as part of its regional power breakfast series.
Joining Brown at the event, which attracted more than 100 business and community leaders, was retired FedEx vice president Mary McDaniel. In addition to putting together a solid business team, Brown advised entrepreneurs to develop strategic alliances with other small business owners and maintain strong relationships with bankers and financial advisers. And be sure to fully understand corporate culture before trying to secure big business contracts, Brown added. "The bottom line is that corporations are in the business of making money, they're not charitable organizations," Brown said. "That means you don't need to go in there saying that you're black and proud or owned by a woman or that you've been discriminated against. Go in with a value-added proposition that'll help a company save money and that will get you the account."

McDaniel, who spent three decades at FedEx, agreed. "Never in my many years at FedEx did I ever see anyone get a contract who came in simply presenting themselves as minority or female-owned," McDaniel said. "If that's all you've got going for you, it's not enough. You've got to be the best at what you do and offer a better service or product than your competition."
There are no shortcuts to business success, the two agreed, but the outlook will be brighter and the possibilities greater for those who are willing to work hard and be involved in their communities.
And that's a message that City Council member and Memphis City Schools math teacher Edmund Ford Jr. said he tries to impress upon young people.


"At the end of the day, you have to make sure you're the best at what you do in order to compete successfully, whether it's in Memphis or nationally or even internationally," Ford said. "I tell my students at Central High School that their world is not finite and confined to a single neighborhood. There are a lot of opportunities out there, but you've got to be prepared to capitalize on them when they arise."

-- James Dowd: (901) 529-2737

Regional MBE Power Breakfast
What: Forum focusing on banking and access to capital for minority and women-owned businesses
When: 7:30 a.m. on Aug. 5
Where: University Club, 1346 Central
Cost: $15
Details: Call (901) 414-3315, ext. 2

Donnell Cobbins, Jr. Profiled in Memphis Business Journal Opinion Survey

Universal Commercial VP, Donnell Cobbins, Jr., was profiled recently among four local business professionals, seeking insight on the challenges MBEs face when starting their businesses.

Universal Profiled in Memphis Daily News

Universal Commercial President, Darrell Cobbins, was quoted in an article recently in the Memphis Daily News discussing how smaller/emerging commercial real estate firms are navigating during these tough economic times.

Small Firms Find Footing In Competitive CRE Market
JEFF IRELAND
Darrell Cobbins got started in commercial real estate in June 2001, three months before the 9/11 terrorist attacks wreaked havoc on the economy.

And Cobbins started his own company, Universal Commercial Real Estate LLC, four years ago, coincidentally right before another downturn in the economy.

As the owner of a small real estate firm, he learned how to battle larger, nationally known competitors in a depressed market.

“What it taught me then is that you sort of have to bear down and find some of your traditional bread-and-butter-type deals, but also what I call alternative or non-traditional real estate deals,” he said.

Cobbins, whose company recently helped a nonprofit organization with a land deal, said he is always on the lookout for deals that larger firms may ignore.

“For the company, you have to think about getting some of the corporate and midsize deals, but some of them you’re no going to get,” said Cobbins, whose firm recently completed a deal with FedEx. “I think you have to approach it a little bit differently. There’s overhead and expense for large companies that smaller ones don’t have. I think in times like these it’s a good thing that we have the ability to be flexible and creative, which may be harder for a larger company.”

Cobbins is hardly the city’s only sole CRE practitioner dealing with the challenges of competing against the big boys.

Sam Zalowitz is the president and owner of Zalowitz Commercial Realty in Memphis.

Like most everybody else in the real estate game, his company has taken some financial hits the last few years.

With an increased unemployment rate, office space value has dropped. Retail centers are leasing less space and looking for rent reductions.

Smaller companies like Zalowitz Commercial are affected more dramatically financially than larger national firms when there’s less money coming in.

“I noticed a change late last year,” Zalowitz said. “There are a number of shopping centers, once they revert to an institutional owner, the institutional owners are going with larger firms instead of individual brokers because of contracts on a national or regional basis, which automatically terminates some listings on shopping centers that we’ve had.”

Zalowitz said he gets by thanks to referrals coming from clients he has worked with for years, but it isn’t easy.

He works with larger firms on some deals, but still believes there’s value in tenants and landlords utilizing what small firms bring to the table.

“The national company agents aren’t as knowledgeable,” Zalowitz said. “When it comes to leases on behalf of the landlord, they’re more anxious to just make the deal than to make it right for both the tenant and the landlord long term. They’re into numbers. They’re not into people.”

Rent reductions, Zalowitz said, can be particularly damaging to a small firm.

“It impacts you financially as much as it does the landlords because, while the national firms want to get a cash out commission, individual brokers, and I may be a dying breed, take a lot of their commission over time.”

Collierville-based Hart Properties Group LLC is another example of a small firm trying to compete against larger firms in a depressed market.

Sherri Beutelschies, president of Hart Properties, said the majority of her clients are small-business people.

“And small-business people are still being affected by the down economy,” Beutelschies said. “They’re not seeing the growth that large corporate America is starting to see and talk about.”

While things are nowhere near what they used to be, she has seen some signs of improvement. The last six months or so, she said, she has received more inquiries from potential clients.

Hart Properties manages approximately 1 million square feet of property and has been in business since 1998.

“I’m optimistic that it’s going to get better,” Beutelschies said. “But I think when it gets better it’s going to look different than it did before. We’ll have to get used to what the new good is, if you know what I mean.”

She said her company has been forced to change its business plan and marketing strategies to deal with what clients’ new expectations are.

“Those who are adjusting are surviving,” she said. “Those who aren’t are going away.”

Cobbins said he believes that although times are tough for the little guys, there are deals to be made.

“It may not be the household-name transaction,” he said, “but there are still people out there who need real estate expertise and assistance.”

Universal Commercial's President Honored as 2011 Commercial Real Estate "Power Player" by Memphis Business Quarterly

Universal Commercial Real Estate President, Darrell Cobbins, was recently honored as a select member of the 2011 Memphis Business Quarterly "Power Players" list for Commercial Real Estate Brokers.
"It is truly an honor to be recognized as I approach my ten year anniversary as a commercial real estate professional", said Cobbins. "It is a testament to those who gave me an opportunity to enter this field and the clients who have entrusted me with their business real estate needs".