Student Entrepreneurs

by Lauren Williams

Jon Brennfleck started his own business. He's a student entrepreneur. He started a small power-washing endeavor, five years ago. It quickly grew into a full lawn service, through which Jon, now a 21-year-old student at Rider University (Lawrenceville, NJ), is expecting to make $45,000 this year.

Jon is one of many students nationwide taking his future into his own hands by starting a business. Lucky for them (and their wallets!), more and more universities are adding entrepreneurship programs to their business schools.

Adventures in (L)earning
In fact, some schools look at the "my biz" movement as motivation for a much-needed academic boost. "We hope to get students started in a series of entrepreneurial adventures," explains Dr. Ron Cook, a Rider professor of entrepreneurship and small business. The school offers a focused program consisting of two required entrepreneurship courses, three elective courses, and a senior capstone course.

Cook adds that it's perfect for students looking to start lower-growth business ventures or planning to take over a family business. "The program is meant to help our students get their feet wet," he explains. More like dive in headfirst... The school encourages undergraduate CEOs to participate in the East Coast Entrepreneurship of the Year Competition, administered by the Rothman Institute of Entrepreneurial Studies at Fairleigh Dickinson University (Teaneck, NJ). Jon won the second-place award of $500 in the New Jersey competition, but explains that entrepreneurial endeavors aren't easy. "It's tough to be a full-time student, run your own business, and have a social life," Jon says. "I do most of my own work, and I'm on the go all the time."

You also need courage, explains Tino Procaccini, a Rider University alum who won the East Coast award for La Principessa, his restaurant and catering service in Kingston, NJ. "You have to be a risk-taker," he says. "Launching a business is hard enough, but being only 20, people looked at me and asked, 'Who are you, and what are you trying to prove?'"

For Tino, the venture proved career-defining. "I never knew exactly what I wanted to do, but my sophomore year I went from being a full-time student to part-time so I could launch the restaurant," he says. And, Tino donated his $1,000 prize money to Rider's entrepreneurial program in recognition of all it had done for him.

Cutting-Edge Curricula
At Wilkes University (Wilkes-Barre, PA), entrepreneurship has become so popular that the school recently-expanded its business concentration to include entrepreneurship not only as a minor (which it's been since 1997), but as a major.

The career path has proven to be quite profitable for students, explains Dr. Jeff Alves, a professor of free enterprise and entrepreneurship at Wilkes. "Students with entrepreneurship minors were getting jobs after graduation very quickly," he says. "After speaking with employers, we learned that students with that particular focus can integrate successfully into almost any business environment and problem-solve."

Although Wilkes is a relatively small school of about 2,200 students, its entrepreneurship courses are diverse. "We're working hard to make this a cross-disciplinary degree," says Alves. "There's a course focusing on innovation and creativity that isn't taught by a member of the business faculty -- it's taught by visual and performing arts teachers to help students define their opportunities more broadly."

In other programs, students tend to learn based on the past, but aren't given the tools to work in an uncertain world, continues Alves. Entrepreneurship programs prepare students for the new, the cutting-edge, and the uncertain, because that's what business is all about.

Emily Gabardi, a recent Wilkes graduate, commends the school for taking its entrepreneurship program to the next level. She says her involvement in class, along with Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), solidified her interest in starting her own business. "In high school, if someone had asked me if I wanted to own my own business, my answer would have been absolutely not," Emily reflects. "Then I stumbled upon these wonderful programs in college that let me apply business plans to real-world situations."

Although Emily is realistic in recognizing the many difficulties that lie ahead for any fledgling business in Corporate America, she feels well-prepared with her Wilkes education. "You gain a liberal understanding and experience every aspect of business," she says. "In order to run a successful business, you must be fluent in every aspect of it."

According to Alves, the goal of entrepreneurship programs across the nation isn't to produce the next Bill Gates. "We just want to give students the tools to work in an uncertain world and react to uncertain opportunities. If along the way they create the next Microsoft, so be it."

Trend Alert:

At Texas Christian University (TCU, Fort Worth, TX), the M.J. Neeley School of Business' entrepreneurship program ranked among the top 20 in the nation, according to U.S. News and World Report, despite being only four years old. In addition, the TCU Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO) won the "Best CEO Chapter in the Country Award" in 2003.

At Indiana University (Bloomington, IN), The Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation connects students to local businesses in an environment of mutual learning and hands-on experience.

The University of Dayton (Dayton, OH) entrepreneurship program features a course called "The Sophomore Experience," in which student teams are given seed money to create and run micro-businesses throughout the year.

In the Hatchery at Babson College (Wellesley, MA), undergrads run their own businesses using the school's space and resources -- rent-free, of course.

In fact, Babson seniors Gabriel Schaffzin and Katie Jerden formed their company, gaboosh.media, within the Hatchery. "The idea of gaboosh.media is to take the basic need of staying organized, and turn it into a means for branding and communication," says Gabriel.

The business students take logos, graphics, and other client needs to the next level by customizing their planners. Customers go online and specially order what they want, designing it to fit their schedules and lifestyles.

Gabriel has been running gaboosh.media since he was a sophomore. He took over the business from his father, who started it 15 years ago, directing its products to Jewish schools. "I wanted to go beyond private schools and into colleges, corporations, and families," says Gabriel, who redesigned Babson's handbook this past year.

"Katie and I are definitely looking to pursue the business after school and grow it into something significant," says Gabriel.

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