Korner Pocket Logo

Korner Pocket Entertainment Inc. logo

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – Sunday, March 14, marks the beginning of something big for Innocent Ugo Jr., a 2019 Executive MBA graduate from Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU). Ugo will officially launch Korner Pocket Entertainment Inc.

Korner Pocket is a portable entertainment business with a soccer theme and, for the moment, an adult spin. Games include Dart Soccer, Foot Pool (pocket pool played with soccer balls), and Headerball (a soccer/volleyball hybrid), mixed with Jumbo Jenga, Jumbo Beer Pong, and a full bar.

Ugo developed the idea as his capstone course project, the final step in the successful completion of PVAMUā€™s EMBA program.

ā€œPVAMU helped organize the idea, give it business language, make it more official ā€” and make sense,ā€ Ugo said. ā€œI just had a wild idea, and they helped give it shape.ā€

ā€œMany of our students have technical skills: They are engineers, scientists, and they know project management,ā€ said H. Gin Chong, Ph.D., director of the EMBA Program in PVAMUā€™s College of Business. ā€œBut because they donā€™t have the idea of how to start a business venture or how to run a business, they come to the program, and itā€™s good for them. Eventually, itā€™s also good for the community.ā€

A Childhood Dream

Innocent Ugo Jr.

Innocent Ugo Jr. ’19, founder of Korner Pocket Entertainment Inc.

Born and raised in Dallas to Nigerian parents, Ugo grew up to play soccer for the University of Houston, later transferring to Texas Southern University to learn how to host large events as president of his Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity house. He parlayed his PVAMU EMBA degree into a job as a business analyst for Smart Financial Credit Union, but his childhood dream of a career related to soccer never left him.

ā€œIā€™ve been playing soccer since pre-K,ā€ Ugo said. ā€œI put my idea together months before I started my executive masterā€™s. I wanted to do something Iā€™m passionate about and make money as well. When I saw the Foot Pool game, which is pretty big in Europe and Asia, I became set on doing these kinds of events and entertaining people. It just kept building and growing from there.ā€

Ugo received guidance from the advisors within the EMBA program and Jasmin Espy of the PVAMU Small Business Development Center (SBDC). Soon after, he began seeding his venture with the purchase of games and, because of the pandemic, altering his still-informal business plan. He finalized an official partnership with the Houston Dynamo and Houston Dash, the cityā€™s menā€™s and womenā€™s professional soccer teams.

Hustle & Grow

Korner Pocket Entertainment Inc. rendering

Photo shows a rendering of the future Korner Pocket Entertainment Inc.

Over the past year of building his startup, Ugoā€™s revenue streams have included logoed apparel, vendor tables (the Dynamo and Dash will be present for his businessā€™ grand opening), and bar sales. He intends to expand his companyā€™s portable, or ā€œGrand Park Events,ā€ with an eye toward a future purchase and development of a dedicated 30,000-square-foot indoor space. ā€œItā€™s a two- to three-year plan, depending on how well we deal with the pandemic,ā€ Ugo said.

For now, his business consists of deepening ties to the mayorā€™s office and police department to assist with future avenues, interviewing and hiring people to set up and staff Korner Pocket events, and doing paperwork generated by liquor licenses and payroll. Ultimately, he has dreams of an indoor facility that can host soccer games, something thatā€™s less of a pipe dream than it was when he was a kid.

ā€œPeople are getting hip to soccer, and [my business will be] something that introduces people to it,ā€ Ugo said. ā€œ[Houston is] getting the World Cup in 2026 ā€” thatā€™s going to be huge. There will be anywhere from three to seven matches in Texas, and Houston is probably going to get two or three. Iā€™m banking on that happening and, hopefully, Covid disappearing.ā€

Due to inclement weather, Korner Pocket Entertainment Inc. moved its kickoff event from March 14 to March 28. Visit kornerpocketent.com for more information.

By Andrew Cohen

-PVAMU-