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Seven schools join forces to spur students to start businesses, stay in area
By Paula Schleis Beacon Journal business writer
Published on Sunday, Aug 12, 2007
It couldn't have been possible a few years ago, they agree.
But new leadership and a contagious spirit of regionalism sweeping Northeast Ohio has pulled seven universities in its wake.
Today, a year-old collaboration that includes Kent State University and the University of Akron stops talking and starts doing.
Calling themselves the Entrepreneurship Education Consortium, professors at the schools picked 35 students for a weeklong boot camp in the art of starting a business.
These students are not expected to hoard this knowledge for their own benefit.
The region needs an infusion of young entrepreneurs who will remain in the area after graduation to form enterprises, said Todd Finkle, director of UA's Fitzgerald Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies.
''The eventual goal is job creation and wealth creation for Northeast Ohio,'' Finkle said.
By design, none of the students is a senior. Organizers are counting on them to go back to their schools and say something, cause something, do something to pull back the curtain of mystery for their peers.
''We want to open their eyes and bring down barriers, put them more in control of their ability to understand the process, the knowledge and the opportunities that are out there,'' said Phil Bessler, director of Baldwin-Wallace College's Business Clinic, another EEC partner.
This week's ''entrepreneurship immersion'' program will break participants into teams. As they design a business, they'll answer such questions as: How do I make it? How do I fund it? How do I sell it? What legal and ethical challenges will I face?
On Friday, the team judged to have the best business plan will win $1,000 cash that could be used to advance the idea.
''The home run would be if a business gets launched from this,'' Bessler said. But realistically, he's looking for ''singles and doubles'' inspiring young people to become future business owners.
The EEC was formed last year after KSU rallied directors of other entrepreneurship programs to pool their resources in a way to boost regional economic development. Northeast Ohio has been forced into a transformation as the footprint of rubber, steel and other local industry stalwarts fades.
''The first meeting was a wash where we all bragged about our programs,'' Finkle said. But by the second meeting, ''we decoded what we need to do is work together to try and enhance Northeast Ohio to better our communities.''
''We're unique in that we have individual areas of expertise that complement each other,'' Bessler added, ''and that would benefit the region in a way nobody else can.''
The group found grants including $50,000 from the Hudson-based Burton Morgan Foundation to fund this week's effort, which is taking place at Cleveland State University.
The majority of the students involved are not business majors. Many have never taken a business course. After all, in the real world, 70 percent of new business owners have no formal business training, Finkle said.
''We looked for kids with a passion and asked how we could use that passion to raise their level of entrepreneurial perspective,'' Bessler said.
The EEC intends for the program to grow each year, taking in more Ohio universities each time. In addition to KSU, UA, Baldwin-Wallace and Cleveland State, charter members of the nonprofit entity are Ashland, John Carroll and Case Western Reserve universities.
Although the schools will continue to compete in attracting students, the timing is right for new partnerships, Bessler said.
Just as a rising tide lifts all boats, the existence of the EEC is an admission that the health of each institution is dependent on the health of the region.
''It couldn't have happened 10 years ago,'' Bessler said. ''There's a new mind-set today. . . . That's the new world of education.
Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com.
It couldn't have been possible a few years ago, they agree.
Get the full article here.
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