American Accessories

This small company began 50 years ago by a UT professor, Dan Boulet. The engineering company has 8 industrial engineers between the United States and China whose main office is located in downtown Knoxville. The company primarily deals with Fortune 500 companies through contract manufacturing. The diversity in clients allows the company to align itself with customers around the world. The company is busy with 50 to 100 companies at any given time while subcontracting over 100 manufacturing facilities in China.

Over the past 25 years business has been made easier to work in China due to advances in technology. In 1985 the factories did not allow phones therefore communication was severely delayed. In 1993 the company was turned around when Eric Zeahnah became the president and in 1995 he became the owner with his vision to make things better. Eric considers himself a conservative business man and that feels the Chinese government to easiest to work with.

Eric is a believer that service in the United States no longer exists and feels that there is opportunity in service for the nation. The company began in 1995 with a $5million line of credit with no backing because he was able to prove to the bank that cash was only needed temporarily for 30 days.

In conclusion Eric suggested for the entrepreneurs to identify a need in a market by talking with people of that market.

Over the course of this semester the ability to hear first hand stories of local business men truly has provided insight that I feel I would have never gained from any class at the university. This course has provided me with confidence that I will one day be able to follow in the footsteps of these men and entrepreneurs everywhere to start my own business. I will proceed forward with this knowledge gained in this course and go into a full time position with a company in Houston. After a couple of years of gaining practical experience and getting a chance to see a need in the market I will go forward and take the leap into the world of entrepreneurship. I am grateful for the opportunity to take this course and thankful for Dr. Martin welcoming the students in this course to entrepreneurship.