E-Week: Potential business people should ‘be brave and get out there’
April 12th, 2012 Posted in BusinessLOGAN—Entrepreneurship Week was full of events aimed at encouraging and fostering entrepreneurship among students at Utah State—workshops, guest speakers, competitions, socials and even a flash mob.
Some of the speakers included RC Willey’s Bill Child, David Bell and Ian MacMillan from the Wharton School of Business, and AC Green, NBA star with the Lakers and founder of the AC Green Youth Foundation.
Entrepreneur Club President Brianna Petersen said Bell, an online business expert from the Wharton School of Business, really made an impression. “With all the hype around doing business online, it was nice to hear what an expert had to say about it,” she said. “He was my favorite.” Bell discussed how doing business online makes it easier to find a niche and fill a specific need, an important component of a successful business.
Petersen says the Entrepreneurship Club is designed to help students start their own businesses. The commercial spirit runs deep in Peterson, who comes from a family of entrepreneurs.
The club is an important part of the Huntsman School’s Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence, which is divided into teams that can help students with different aspects of the business-building process: teams in innovation, development, design, consulting, marketing, events, competitions, outreach and executive. When students have an idea for the business they can go to different teams for help as they work on their idea and turn it into a reality, Peterson said.
“There are many students who are not cut out for the ‘traditional’ job,” she said. “They want to be their own boss, innovate something, or just be the one to determine their career path.” The club is designed for such students, who may or may not be business majors. “We deal mostly with non-business majors; we’re for anyone with the entrepreneurial mindset,” Peterson said.
One of the goals of Entrepreneurship Week was “to find the student businesses throughout campus so we can keep in contact, help them advertise, find funding, etc, and have some fun while we’re at it,” she said.
Another goal is to spread the word that the Entrepreneurship Club is not just for business majors and to connect with students in other majors.
The week launched with Comedy Night which drew more than 200 people to watch a local improv group, Logan Out Loud, and hear the announcement of the 72-hour innovation competition. The week concluded Friday with a BMX event that drew around a thousand people throughout the day.
“I feel like E-week was a huge success this year,” said Petersen. The club increased membership and found over 20 student businesses that they didn’t know existed. “I feel like we found the balance between educational and fun activities,” she added. loading
One of the key things for student entrepreneurs is to be brave and get out there, she said.
“I feel like the first big thing is actually making that first step and starting something. It’s extremely important for [students] to overcome whatever fears or doubts they have and to just dive in, within reason, of course,” Peterson said. “This idea is what made us set up the club way we did; with the right help it’s easier for them to make that leap.”
TP
Tags: E-Week, Enterpreneur Club, Huntsman School of Business
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