I am in Arizona today with my colleague Becky Gann to make a presentation about our approach to experiential education in entrepreneurship. We will be highlighting our co-curricular programs. Our goal in these programs is to create an environment in which students can learn from successes and failures through hands-on experience with entrepreneurial businesses.
For those students who have their own businesses we offer our student business hatcheries. The three hatcheries on our campus offer student entrepreneurs access to basic business infrastructure (desks, computers, phones, faxes, copier, etc.) on a co-op basis and to a variety of educational opportunities tied directly to their personal entrepreneurial experiences. Faculty, entrepreneur mentors, our accounting faculty, and local attorneys provide support and advice for students participating in this program.
For those students who want experience, but do not yet have their own business, we have established five campus-based businesses that are “owned” by the university, but are fully student created and student run. This includes three retail businesses, a graphic design firm, and a PR firm. We plan to add one more campus-based business next year.
These programs were funded in part by a grant from the Coleman Foundation and several local foundations.
Dr Jeff Cornwall
Co-founder of The Entrepreneurial Mind, serial entrepreneur and professor of entrepreneurship.
It is great to see that Belmont has expanded these programs. I wish I had had more of an opportunity before graduating to get involved and use these hatcheries while attending.
I think that the busiensses/hatcheries were one of the major pluses to the programs at Belmont.