I am working with over two dozen students who own businesses while in college. Is this unique to my school? Absolutely not! StartupJournal has a profile on student entrepreneurs. College can be a great environment for yound entrepreneurs to get their careers started.
“Students intuitively understand the attractive youth market, can find cheap labor in the form of other students, can tap freely into databases of information that would be very costly to nonstudents and get lots of free advice from professors and other on-campus advisers.”
In fact, more and more schools are building in support systems for their student entrepreneurs, similar to our Student Business Hatchery Program here at Belmont.
Kenneth Brown, a Belmont Student Entrepreneur, describes the benefits of such a program this way:
“I love the Hatchery. It is a great accomplishment and show of support from the university to those who own a business. All of my classes are in Massey and I love the fact that in between classes I can send faxes and e-mails or even hold a meeting in the conference room. I enjoy being around others who share an interest in the spirit of entrepreneurship and even plan to collaborate on some ventures with others who use the hatchery.”
Integrating learning and doing is a powerful experience for many of these students.
“Student entrepreneurs often stress what they see as synergy between their classroom studies and their after-hours businesses. Brett Klasko publishes an online investment newsletter, Investors Alley, while taking junior-year business classes at Emory. The 21-year-old from Cherry Hill, N.J., says that his GPA — currently 3.0 — has improved as he’s completed general-education classes required to graduate and begun studying management and marketing. ‘Now I’m past the introductory business courses and more into the thinking courses where my real-world knowledge and experience comes into play,’ Mr. Klasko says. ‘I can really contribute things.'”
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