CEOs of future on campus today

The old “9-to-5 ’til you’re 65” just doesn’t cut it for the newest members of the work force.

The entrepreneurial spirit is thriving at Northern Colorado’s two universities, in new programs and clubs aimed at preparing students to launch directly into the world of business ownership.

Entrepreneurship is becoming increasing popular among younger demographics. In 2006, 25- to 34-year-olds dominated early-stage entrepreneurship, according to data from the U.S. contingent of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor at Babson College. They accounted for about 14.2 percent of early-stage entrepreneurship, the largest of any age group.

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The 18- to 24-year-olds are also on the rise as business owners. Comprising 10.9 percent of the early-stage entrepreneurship in 2006, the group made up 8.7 percent of entrepreneurship in the United States in 2003.

At age 20, Nate Watkin counts in that group, and is doing his part to increase its percentage of entrepreneurial activity. Watkin, a junior business major at Colorado State University, became interested in starting an entrepreneurship group last year.

“I noticed a lack of an entrepreneurial network,” he said. “And I felt there was a good demand for it.”

Watkin hooked up with the CSU College of Business’ Center for Entrepreneurship and center director Henry Nowak. He learned that Nowak already planned to start a chapter of the Collegiate Entrepreneur’s Organization, known appropriately enough as CEO.

CEO began in 1984 as an event – Collegiate Entrepreneurs of Illinois Conference. The next year, the event was changed to include more colleges and morphed into the Collegiate Entrepreneurs of the Midwest. By 1999, the organization had landed a major sponsor – the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City – allowing it to expand nationally. Today, the organization serves 30,000 students in 400 chapters.

“We want CEO to be a link between the business community and the college,” Watkin said.

The CSU chapter of CEO was launched for the fall semester, the first in the state, with Watkin serving as the chapter president. It already has 45 members.

Vision for a network

Watkin said that the vision is to bring together potential entrepreneurs from all majors on campus into a single network with the goal of helping to create successful student businesses. The group hosts speakers, workshops and networking events.

Watkin envisions next semester’s events, which will be open to the public, being geared toward students who are serious about starting businesses and are ready to launch them. Potential topics include legal issues, business plan writing and financing options.

Watkin listed another benefit of being surrounded by other college-age entrepreneurs as inspiration.

“It makes you wonder why you’re not doing the same,” Watkin said.

It was encouragement enough for him. Two months ago Watkin and Brad Scot, a construction management student, started Definite Productions – a video marketing and event production firm.

The group will seek to forge a strong relationship with the business community – bringing in businesspeople to speak and share their experience, act as mentors, and be inspirational in their own right.

“This semester has been the growing and learning stage,” Watkin said.

Starting in the spring semester, the CEO group will increase its marketing to both students and the business community.

Entrepreneurship alive at UNC

CSU may boast the only chapter of CEO in Colorado, but other universities have their own answer to fostering entrepreneurship in their students.

The University of Northern Colorado Monfort College of Business’ entrepreneurship program has been supporting such efforts for the past six years.

“We’re taking kids who want to start a business and giving them the tools to do it,´ said David Thomas, an assistant professor of management and marketing. Thomas has headed up the Entrepreneurship Program for two years.

This year is the first for the program’s Entrepreneurship Club. The group had 15 members during the fall semester and also invites cross-discipline membership.

The students are using the club to apply what they are learning in the classroom, Thomas explained. They put together a six-point plan for the Greeley Downtown Development Authority for revitalizing the area. Thomas said that such an applied approach to learning is what makes the Monfort Entrepreneurship Program unique.

“We’re less classroom and more practical and applied,” he explained.

The college offers a certificate in entrepreneurship, which requires four courses, three that include a heavy focus on applied projects. Students team up with local businesses and would-be entrepreneurs to develop feasibility studies and business plans, and make recommendations on how to grow and evolve established businesses. Thomas said that the applied aspect is made possible through partnerships throughout the region.

Partner with businesses

When Don Abbott took the helm at the Loveland Center for Business Development, he brought with him an awareness of what the Monfort College’s entrepreneur program had to offer. He had previously worked with the college as the director of Weld County’s Small Business Development Center and even taught some small business-related courses there.

“They provide such a great service,” Abbott said of the entrepreneurship program. “I wanted to bring them in as a partner.”

The two organizations entered into a memorandum of understanding through which Abbott would recommend businesses from the Loveland Center for Business Development to work with the students in the program. In return, the students provided a gamut of services, from simple informational meetings to feasibility and business plans.

“It’s a win/win for everyone,” Abbott said.

He estimates that about 20 businesses have connected in some way with the college’s entrepreneurship program in the past year and a half.

So far, the response from the businesses has been very positive, although the actual impact of the partnership has yet to be seen. Abbott explained that it will take more time for the actual results to reveal themselves. He added that he is tracking the progress through the city of Loveland’s Economic Gardening program.

Abbott said that he would be interested in setting up a similar relationship at CSU and expanding to other departments, such as economics and GIS. It comes down to getting students from all disciplines into the world of business startups.

If the early entrepreneurship trends continue, forget “tomorrow” or “the future” – the students of today can also be the employers of today.