• Baylor MBA students’ plan offers hope to a city 1,700 miles from Waco

    North Bay, Ontario

    The city of North Bay, Ontario, was founded in 1891 because of its location along a main canoe route vital to the fur trade. Today, North Bay is a typical Canadian mid-sized city, with a strong sense of community, low cost of living, and home to two local colleges. But in recent years, the city’s population has dipped and the city’s economy has taken a hit.

    If this description — a low-cost, mid-sized city founded on a trade route and supported by a strong community and local colleges — sounds familiar, you wouldn’t be the first to think so. And it wasn’t all that long ago that Waco, Baylor’s hometown, was facing similar challenges to those North Bay sees today, so it was only natural that these northern neighbors would look to someone who knows Waco well to help them get back on their feet.

    As it so happens, the leadership of Invest North Bay (a local group dedicated to revitalizing the city) includes a Baylor graduate. Kevin Hutchison, MBA ’07, and his brother Timothy, MBA ’08, hatched the idea of asking the Baylor MBA program to lend some expertise. Kevin pitched it to his fellow board members, and last fall, the group agreed.

    Baylor MBA students regularly tackle real world problems in a course known as “Focus Firm“; the class gives students real business experience while giving businesses free, unbiased assessments and recommendations. North Bay’s case fit perfectly into the program’s curriculum, and a group of 20 Baylor MBA students spent this spring studying the city.

    These students visited North Bay, surveyed thousands of its citizens, and even welcomed the city’s mayor when he visited Waco. After months of work, the team presented their recommendations to the city last week. Their suggestions focused particularly on downtown North Bay, sharing specific examples from Waco and other cities on how to improve livability, reduce the perception of unsafe areas, and create a culture of collaboration. These three focal points will, the team suggests, draw start-up businesses, which will in turn not only attract new residents, but encourage current ones to support and invest themselves in their city.

    After working with the group, North Bay Mayor Al McDonald says he feels a real sense of hope and optimism. “We heard that North Bay has a lot of great things but we still need to do more, so that’s what we need to do as Invest North Bay, as a community of North Bay,” he said after the students’ presentation. “It can’t be one person or one organization, it has to be a community altogether, but there’s no question a room of 200 people saw the hope and optimism of a path forward for the city of North Bay, but that path included everyone.”

    Sic ’em, Baylor MBA students!