Recently in Innovative Entrepreneurial Education Category

The findings of a recent study by Babson College suggests that exposure to entrepreneurship in school increases the intention to become an entrepreneur.

This is consistent with preliminary findings we are seeing in data we have gathered here at Belmont.

Increasing exposure to entrepreneurship is a driving force behind our inclusion of entrepreneurship coursework for all students pursing either undergraduate or graduate degrees in business at our school.  It opens students' eyes to business ownership as a career path. 

We are also trying to take our efforts to integrate entrepreneurship into other programs across our campus.  While we cannot get entire courses into other academic programs, we can help integrate the topic into existing courses by working with faculty from other disciplines.  In fact, cross-campus entrepreneurship education is a trend happening at colleges and universities around the globe.

Those students studying engineering, medicine and other areas of healthcare, art and music, the sciences, and so forth, all need exposure to entrepreneurship.  For with exposure we can increase the number of business owners in an economy.  We can offer these students a better understanding of what entrepreneurship really is and what it takes to launch and grow a venture.  We can demystify it and help dispell some of the myths and misconceptions they have about entrepreneurship.  This is why I included entrepreneurship education as one of the five points in my recent post about my agenda for utilizing entrepreneurship to help rebuild our economy. 

While some level of entrepreneurship does "just happen", educating students about business ownership and free enterprise will amplify entrepreneurial activity. 

Teach entrepreneurship not only gives them the skills they need, it actually increases their confidence that they can be successful at business ownership and increases the likelihood that they will in fact start a business of their own.

A few years ago we received a seed gift from a donor who has now become our major benefactor for the Center for Entrepreneurship here at Belmont.

He and I had a conversation about what the gift would allow us to do.  He deferred all decisions to me, but did make a challenge.  He said that he hoped that we could find ways to leverage his gift.

What a lot of entrepreneurship programs do to leverage gifts is to set up venture funds.  They make investments in student and alumni businesses with the hope that these investments will pay off big returns.

But that model does not work in our Center.  We have our unofficial "Life Time Warranty" which states that we never take ownership or consulting dollars from any students or alumni no matter how successful their businesses become.  We will always be there as their teachers and mentors.

So we came up with a different model.  We called it our Runway Loan Program, in which we would make $25,000 loans to student or alumni businesses that needed help and showed good potential.

Here are the terms:

1. Zero percent interest
2. Repayment of principle tied to cash flow (very small percentage so as not to bleed cash)
3. Non-recourse loan
4. Once principle is paid back a gift agreement kicks in which says they will give our Center a gift of 1% of the revenue of the business we supported that continues until the business is sold.  At that point we get 1% of the proceeds of the sale.

When I presented this model to a couple of national meetings I did not get a very warm and fuzzy response.

I was told, "They will never pay it back without teeth in the agreement." 

And I heard, "No entrepreneur is going to give up 1% of revenues in perpetuity for a measly $25,000!!"

Well, they were wrong on both counts. 

We had strong interest for our initial round of two loans. 

Yesterday the first of the two loans, this one made to Just Kidding Productions (video company, whose founders also started the apps company Aloompa), was paid back to us in full.



And thanks to the on-going generosity of  our donor, we will be making many more Runway Loans for years to come!

I hear a lot of concern that professionalism is dead or at least dying in the workplace as this new generation of workers has been entering the workforce. 

Those of us preparing college students for their careers face it almost everyday as professors - students who seem to lack the professional skills and even basic social skills that they will need to succeed in business.  We have students who text message as we talk to them in our offices, who wear their hats on backwards, who sleep in class, who check Facebook during lectures, and even some who answer a cell phone call during class. 

Our natural tendency is to throw our hands in the air in frustration and hope it does not get even worse before the time comes for us to retire.  After all, this is the always connected, constantly wired generation.  This is their culture.

But some of the management faculty at Bradley University began discussing how to deal with the numerous behavioral problems and even rudeness in their classes and when communicating in person, via email, or phone. 

Jennifer Robin, who teaches Organizational Behavior, developed a system of professionalism points, designed to replace participation points in class.  Professionalism points suggest appropriate behavior that will be useful in the future. 

Eden Blair, who teaches Entrepreneurship at Bradley, has adopted this system.  She shared her experiences with using this approach to addressing student behavior:

•    "'Professionalism' has different meanings in different classes.  Thus, Jen could incorporate leadership theories associated with appropriate behavior in her class.  I have students treat me and their classmates as future venture capitalists or new venture team members in my entrepreneurship classes, as future stakeholders/alliance members in my social entrepreneurship class, etc.  In my creativity class, we discuss how multitasking is really a series of continuous distractions, provide theories in class how damaging that is to brain structures associated with creativity and the ability to be creative.  Thus, playing on your phone during a creativity class isn't just rude, it also has an impact on a student's ability to create.  My entrepreneurship students go to entrepreneur networking events in town and we discuss what behavior they saw was appropriate and what wasn't.   What does it say about an entrepreneur who can't take an earpiece out of his ear the entire time of an event?  Does that make him look busy and important or a complete tool (my students' phrase)?"

•    "Treat students like adults.  I do not care if they miss class, but they need to accept the consequences of it, excused or unexcused.  I will not discuss what they miss and tell them that they should never ask me if they "missed anything important."  They need to contact me ASAP if they are missing class and should ask politely for me to reschedule an exam, not expect that I will do it.  I am under no obligation to do so.  Students who act appropriately and as adults are far more likely to get what they ask for."

•    "Teach students that small acts go a long way.  Greeting me and their fellow students when they come into class, writing polite emails in the correct manner, being a good team member are all important."

•    "Explain the long term consequences for unprofessional behavior.  Falling asleep in class may not seem a big deal now, but it will when you need a reference to a grad school where I have a buddy or for a job with a local entrepreneur.  A lack of punctuality makes me and fellow students less likely to help you in the future."

•    "When you can't beat them, join them.  I do allow students to have computers and phones in the room and try to utilize them in class.  I teach students how to look up company websites and figure out what the site suggests about the current and future success.  We then discuss whether students would fund the organization.  Since I can't get the students to read, this at least allows for discussion.  I have students text into a poll to help promote a discussion (polleverywhere.com)."

•    "Enlist students' help when crafting professional behavior.  When they state what behavior is appropriate and inappropriate, it is easier to chastise them when they act inappropriately."

To those of you in academia, the faculty at Bradley are in the early stages of developing this system, so they welcome any ideas or comments.  Eden Blair can be contacted at esblair@bumail.bradley.edu

But I know they would also welcome thoughts from the rest of you who are dealing with these issues with young workers in your businesses.  I am sure they would welcome your thoughts, as well.  I also think that some of the ideas they are developing must also morph into orientation and training ideas in businesses to help address the behavioral challenges I hear from many of you when dealing with your young workers.

A new study released by the SBA Office of Advocacy suggests that in terms of what it takes to support entrepreneurship, the US lags behind Denmark and Canada.  Note that the study does not measure entrepreneurial activity, only what the authors define as the attributes that support entrepreneurship.

The factors that pull the US down in this analysis include cultural support, the strength of the tech sector, and high growth entrepreneurial businesses.

The authors suggest that the changing political climate may be at work regarding the weakening cultural support.  Ya think?

The attack on free enterprise and capitalism has been relentless the last few years.  No wonder entrepreneurs are no longer feeling our culture is behind them.

One of the observations made by the authors is that "the American youth's perception of entrepreneurship as a viable career choice seem to be limited."

Really?  We have seen a dramatic increase in students switching to our major here at Belmont University.  The most common reason?  They see little hope in the stability of the traditional job market.  They see entrepreneurship as the best path to a successful career.

Carol Tice in her blog at Entrepreneur also disagrees with this conclusion by the authors of the study:

I'm not sure they're right on that. As the mom of a high-school teen who's been active in Futue Business Leaders, and a reporter who's written about wonderful youth-entrepreneurship programs such as Empowerment Group's Youth Entrepreneurship Program, I think the problem isn't at that level.

A new poll by the Kauffman Foundation poll reveals that 40 percent of youth ages 8 to 24 would like to start a business at some future point, or already have done so.  Other polls show that the percent of those entering college who cite owning their own business as a primary goal from their education is over 50%.

Do America's youth really receive that entrepreneurship is not a viable career choice?  I don't think so!

All the evidence I see shows that America's youth are indeed ready, willing, and increasingly able to take on the challenge of helping to rebuild our economy.  We need to continue to educate them to give them the skills they need to be successful entrepreneurs.  Then we need to get out of their way and turn them loose.

The role of culture in entrepreneurial activity cannot be overstated.  Historically in America, our culture was a major contributor to our entrepreneurial spirit.  In places like Eastern Europe, where communism suppressed free enterprise and limited private property, their culture still seems to hold back entrepreneurial aspirations among many of their citizens.

England is an interesting case in point to the interplay between culture and entrepreneurial activity.

A number of years ago I was approached about co-authoring a special American edition for an Entrepreneurship textbook that was published in England.  The book had been very popular in the UK, so I was intrigued.  

As I read the text I quickly realized that most of the text was geared toward trying to encourage people to consider entrepreneurship. It was almost as if students needed to be coaxed into considering entrepreneurship.

I talked to the author and expressed that in the U.S., our students were eager to be entrepreneurs and to wanted to learn the skills and knowledge they needed to succeed.  His text, even though it ran over 600 pages, never even got to the point of "how to".  It seemed to be stuck on simply "why."

We agreed that the project just would not work.  The entrepreneurial nature of our cultures were just too far apart.  In England, they were trying to foster entrepreneurial thinking in a culture where it was not a norm.  In the U.S., we were simply trying to harness, shape and form the entrepreneurial nature of our students to help prepare them for success.

It seems that others in the UK also recognized the need for a culture change and apparently have tried to do something about it through the infusion of entrepreneurship education.

National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship released the 2010 Survey of Enterprise and Entrepreneurship in Higher Education, which examines entrepreneurship in English universities.

Highlights from the study include:

• 16% of the student population are engaged in enterprise and entrepreneurship; a 50% increase on 2007;
• 63% of universities have enterprise and entrepreneurship as part of their core mission;
• More start ups than ever are being created through our universities: up 27% from 2007.

The survey portrays a landscape that has grown and developed since 2007 with enterprise and entrepreneurship now firmly established as part of the campus student experience.

Fortune named their Top 5 schools for entrepreneurship:

1. Babson College
   
2. Indiana University
3. University of Texas
4. St. Louis University
5. Belmont University -- How about that!!
   

With traditional employment looking so bleak a common question is this: "Are you seeing more students interested in entrepreneurship given the depths of this recession?"

This is a good question because historically we have seen a small upswing in student interest in entrepreneurship when the economy and job market soften. But this has become a much deeper recession and a more worrisome long-term economic climate. How are students reacting this time?

When the bottom fell out of the economy, the initial reaction among my students at Belmont University was one of shock. This generation is one that has been protected from failure and insulated from risk. I tend to have graduating seniors in the class that I teach, so those not already in business did not know what to do next.

But over the next few months, I saw a transformation. My students began to accept the new state of the world and adjust their expectations. I began to believe that this generation is ready to follow their entrepreneurial spirit and help rebuild our economy.

The other day I received a piece of data about our program that affirmed my theory.

Many industries see interest

Each year we usually see about 15 to 20 new businesses started by our undergraduate students. Mind you, they do this in the midst of taking classes and often while also working part time. This year we have seen a tripling of new practicing student entrepreneurs.

We went from 18 new undergraduate student businesses last year to 54 this year. These students are coming from all across our campus from many different majors.

The businesses they are starting are in a variety of industries. As would be expected in Nashville, a good number are in the entertainment industry -- including audio production, video production, artist management, live performance and music promotion.

There are several related to the food industry, too, including a couple of different types of catering businesses, a manufacturer of food flavorings, one that makes barbecue rubs and sauces and a food co-op.

Students have set up online businesses that sell everything from golf clubs to auto parts to high-end makeup. There are businesses that sell such things as jewelry, lawn services, aprons and kitchen cabinets.

And some students have created businesses that provide a variety of services, including basketball training, online marketing, medical waste disposal and even credit restoration.

Now it is time to turn the newly minted "Entrepreneurial Generation" loose. It is time to help give them the capital they need by cutting taxes. We also need to provide the freedom they need to navigate a very challenging marketplace by clearing the path to starting and growing businesses by cutting regulatory red tape. The "Entrepreneurial Generation" is willing to meet the challenges in our economy. This news has certainly raised my spirits about our economic future.

(This post ran as my column in the Tennessean today).

Education and training for entrepreneurs worldwide is inadequate, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Special Report: A Global Perspective on Entrepreneurship Education and Training, released today at Babson College, lead sponsor and co-founder of the GEM project.

Entrepreneurship education is one of several key factors, along with access to finance, government policies, infrastructure, and others, that influence attitudes about entrepreneurship and people's willingness to start businesses, according to GEM. Interviews with experts in 31 countries around the world found that in almost every country entrepreneurship education and training was inadequate, especially in primary and secondary schools.

In surveys with more than 100,000 individuals, GEM found that 80% of entrepreneurship education and training is provided through formal channels such as primary and secondary level schooling, and through university degree programs.  This is significant because most formal training is at the primary and secondary school levels.

"Training at a young age cultivates an entrepreneurial spirit early on, but college-level training is important too, because it validates entrepreneurship as a potential career path," says report author and Babson Professor Donna Kelley, "Besides skill-building, training increases an individual's awareness of entrepreneurship and their intent to start a business, and improves perceptions about their ability to do so," says Kelley.

Sixty percent of individuals engaged in entrepreneurship training acquire it from informal sources, which GEM defines as non credit-bearing courses at a university, local business organization, or government agency, or self-study using books and Internet courses. "Access to informal programs is a good thing too, because entrepreneurs can obtain the specific skill sets they need to achieve their immediate goals," says Alicia Coduras, from IE Business School in Spain and lead author of the report.

GEM also learned that entrepreneurship training is of most benefit to individuals in wealthier countries where the entrepreneurial environment is rich in conditions that allow new businesses to thrive. "For entrepreneurship training to be productive in low-income countries, it needs to be complemented by beneficial government policies, infrastructure, and other basic requirements," says Kristie Seawright, GEM Executive Director.

Yesterday was a great day here at Belmont.  As I mentioned the other day, our latest campus-based business opened for business.

Buzzy's Candy Store had an amazing opening, with revenues in one day that equal what some of our stores would be happy with in a month!!  The girls behind this venture, Areej Rabie, Julia Cecere, and Mandy Strader, did an amazing job getting the store ready to open and building a "buzz" for their grand opening.  There were lines to check out almost all day.

What is amazing is how many colleges and universities that you may have never heard of are doing really cool things in entrepreneurship education all around the world.

This is nothing new.  Many of the best innovations in entrepreneurship education over the past three decades have come out of little known programs. 

I could never have gotten our program to the point it is now at many of the larger, better known institutions.  The bureaucracy and inertia at these schools makes program development a slow and sometimes painful process.

A post by Vivek Wadhwa at TechCrunch from last fall says that pedigree really does not matter for entrepreneurs -- it is what they get out of their education, not where it comes from that matters.  He writes:

With my affiliations at three of the greatest universities in the world (Harvard, Berkeley, and Duke), I know I'm going to take a lot of flak for this piece. (Yes, I know that Berkeley and Duke aren't Ivy League -- but they are in the "elite" category). It's not that I haven't been trying to find the good news. I've done three big research projects on entrepreneurship. Each of these reached the same conclusion about education and entrepreneurship: What makes entrepreneurs successful is the education, not the school. It's the same in India and China. India's IITs and China's Fudan University (their "Ivy League" schools) don't hold any monopoly on graduating tech stars.

I find the same thing with our entrepreneurship students.  Those who take advantage of all we offer them gain amazing momentum coming out of college.

Certainly, the two freshmen and the sophomore who took the initiative and opened Buzzy's are already improving their chances of success in their futures after they leave Belmont.

(Thanks to Bruce Schierstedt for passing the TechCrunch story along).

Sorry to be a little light on the blogging this week. 

I took over the presidency of the United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) this past weekend at its national meeting that was held here in Nashville.  So with all that goes with this new role and the start of our spring semester the past few days have been a bit of a whirlwind! 

USASBE is the premier organization dedicated to the advancement of entrepreneurship education through best practices and leading edge perspectives.
 
USASBE is built around four pillars: education, research, outreach and public policy.  Education includes best practices in the areas of pedagogy, curriculum and course design, course delivery, and the creation of related educational programs that support students and entrepreneurs.  These are shared with members to enhance the delivery of entrepreneurship education in a broad cross-section of educational environments.

USASBE is an affiliate of the International Council of Small Business (ICSB), which has supported entrepreneurship educators and advocates around the globe for over fifty years.
 
Entrepreneurship research is our second keystone, and is concerned with the process of knowledge discovery as it relates to the creation and growth of innovative new ventures. We seek to encourage theoretical, conceptual and empirical research that informs entrepreneurial practice. Our research interests include entrepreneurial activity in start-up, early growth, corporate, non-profit, and public sector contexts.
 
The third pillar is outreach.  It is concerned with engaging the entrepreneurial community in innovative ways through incubators, technology commercialization, service learning, student internships, angel networks, microcredit schemes, business plan competitions, and a host of other initiatives.  USASBE is at the forefront in encouraging best practices in entrepreneurial engagement.
 
Our final pillar, public policy, begins with ongoing efforts to assess the impact of entrepreneurial activity in our communities, regions and nations. Beyond this, we seek to identify the regulatory, legislative and tax policies that discourage and encourage successful entrepreneurship, and to identify policy prescriptions that help fuel the ongoing entrepreneurial revolution.
 
We are facing difficult economic times around the globe.  Entrepreneurship has proven to be the key to every past economic recovery.  Our mission as entrepreneurship educators is more important than ever.  We believe entrepreneurship represents the ultimate source of economic empowerment. Entrepreneurial attitudes and behaviors are the keys to sustainable competitive advantage for individuals, organizations, communities, and counties. Yet, the ability to capitalize on this immense potential requires a richer understanding of the entrepreneur, the venture creation experience, and the environments within which entrepreneurs must operate. Such an understanding is only possible if we encourage rigorous scholarly activity and the sharing new, innovative perspectives on how to foster the next generation of entrepreneurs.

It is an exciting time to take the reigns of this organization.