By Sarah Pritchett Dalton
Making the job search following college graduation more successful is a major goal of Concord University’s (CU) new Entrepreneurship Initiative.
“We would like to instill in our students a vigorous entrepreneurial mindset, enabling them to be job creators as well as effective job seekers,” says Dr. Mohan Pokharel, director of the Entrepreneurship Initiative. “Moreover, these days, corporations prefer to hire new employees who have more than one academic field of excellence and who can think entrepreneurially. Innovation and entrepreneurship are becoming the mantra for hiring agencies in both private and public sectors. The Entrepreneurship Initiative will equip our students to either find or create jobs.”
The classroom experience of Concord’s business students also stands to benefit from the initiative by encouraging them to be creative and make room for the generation of ideas.
“The initiative will create opportunities for students to contemplate business ideas and will propel business idea generation,” says Pokharel. “It will prepare our students who have business ideas to effectively participate in the West Virginia Statewide Business Plan Competition and take advantage of the West Virginia University-created entrepreneurial infrastructure in the State of West Virginia.”
CU is already shining in the business plan competition. Concord student Robbie Parker was one of 10 finalists in the most recent event.
“The initiative will complement the current business symposium with its new Meet the CEO/Entrepreneur program,” says Pokharel.“This will be a forum for our students to meet and greet individuals who have successfully started businesses and hear their entrepreneurial experiences.
Through the Meet the CEO/Entrepreneur program, CU students will gain more knowledge about their lived experiences while creating a forum for sharing business knowledge and pertinent information. This knowledge exchange will create a win-win relationship between the initiative’s participants and local and regional entrepreneurs.
College students aren’t the only ones expected to benefit from the Entrepreneurship Initiative. The endeavor also offers outreach opportunities for regional high school students. Pokharel says the initiative will enhance the Concord Business Challenge (CBC), a popular competition for regional high school students sponsored by Concord’s Division of Business each fall. Celebrating its 20th year in October, the CBC draws hundreds of student competitors from West Virginia and Virginia.
“In the near future, the CBC will have a component of entrepreneurship to inspire and entice students of neighboring high schools about the entrepreneurship program at Concord University,” says Pokharel. “To make student participation more effective, Concord University has already instituted a rapid entrepreneurship course for regional high school business teachers.”
The first teachers’ training was held at Concord in June. Hosted by the Division of Business, the seminar was structured to help the teachers better prepare their students to participate in newly developed high school level statewide business plan competitions.
In addition to Pokharel, other faculty members in Concord’s Division of Business are currently involved in the Entrepreneurship Initiative. Plans call for bringing onboard additional faculty from disciplines across campus, and the faculty members in the business division have been collaborating in developing an entrepreneurship minor in addition to the summer teachers’ training program.
Concord University currently offers a Bachelor of Science in business administration with areas of emphasis in accounting, administrative systems, finance, management and marketing, and a Bachelor of Science in education with a teaching certification in business education, 5-Adult.
Along with benefits for students and faculty engagement, equally important is the Entrepreneurship Initiative’s potential to impact the region’s economic and business climate.
“The initiative will serve as an entrepreneurial information hub for local entrepreneurs, as it collaborates with federal and state small business development offices, the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship and the other entrepreneurial centers of various universities to gain and disseminate pertinent information,” says Pokharel. “The initiative will be a transmission, tailoring and amplifying of entrepreneurial knowledge for local economic development.
“Knowledge tailoring and information amplification will be performed through faculty-guided student research that addresses the questions and issues of local entrepreneurs. This will be a great vehicle for student involvement and faculty engagement in kindling entrepreneurial interest in our students.”
The Entrepreneurship Initiative is made possible through support from the Shott Foundation and other resources. Home base for the endeavor is the Rahall Technology Center on Concord’s Athens campus.
An official launch event for the Initiative was held at Concord on September 9. Dr. Rebecca White, the James W. Walter Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Tampa, served as keynote speaker. Also participating in the launch were federal and state Small Business Development Office representatives, local business owners, representatives of regional chambers of commerce, corporate representatives and officials from the BrickStreet Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at West Virginia University.
For more information on the Entrepreneurship Initiative, contact Dr. Mohan Pokharel at (304) 384-5247 or mpokharel@concord.edu. To learn more about pursuing a degree through Concord University’s Division of Business, call (888) 384-5249, e-mail admissions@concord.edu or visit www.concord.edu/academics/business.
About the Author
Sarah Pritchett Dalton works in the Office of Advancement at Concord University where she is responsible for media relations.
