The Tennessean (Nashville's' daily newspaper) ran a profile of four young entrepreneurs in today's paper. Each has taken a slightly different path to their entrepreneurial career.
One of the profiles is of Andy Tabar, a 19 year old entrepreneurship student here at Belmont. He is integrating his experiences as he grows his business, Nashville Creative, into various class projects.
This need for just-in-time learning is what makes today's young entrepreneurs such a challenge when they arrive at college. Many already have an operating business when they move into the dorms as freshman. We must engage them quickly, and show them how we can integrate their business experiences into their college experiences.
For students like Andy, we plug them into our various co-curricular offerings for student entrepreneurs, including our hatchery, the practicing entrepreneurs programs, and entrepreneurship club as soon as they arrive at our doorstep. Sometimes we know they are coming, and some are "walk-ins" who show up at our Center. By the time they take their first Entrepreneurship class, usually in their Sophomore or Junior year, we already know many of them and their businesses quite well.
Effectively working with today's young entrepreneurs requires a different approach to teaching. We offer them as much opportunity to gain knowledge and skills outside of the classroom as we do in the courses we teach. And if it works well, the two experiences blend together. What we talk about in an informal student entrepreneur roundtable discussion, may also be something they are using as the focus for a class project.
Leave a comment