Feb. 10, 2010

Entrepreneurs encourage students to create their future

MITCHELL — The workforce isn’t just about getting a job – sometimes it’s about creating them. And entrepreneurship isn’t just about small businesses – it’s also about big ideas.

Young entrepreneurs will once again descend upon Dakota Wesleyan University during the fifth annual Launch event – created to expose students to the possibilities of being an entrepreneur. The annual conference will be Thursday, Feb. 25, at DWU.

“What better way to cap off National Entrepreneurship Week than with a state-wide effort to promote business development?” said Rhonda Pole, director of the Kelley Center for Entrepreneurship at DWU, which is one of the partners in the event. “Launch brings people of all walks of life together to share what they know. You can feel the energy and passion from entrepreneurs and learn from each other – that synergy is really exciting.”

The day’s events begin at 8:30 a.m. and end at 3:15 p.m. at Dakota Wesleyan University in the Sherman Center and Rollins Campus Center. Attendees can register at www.dwu.edu/SDLaunchConference, or call 800-952-3562 or 605-665-4408. Complimentary registration for faculty and students is available for a limited time through the South Dakota Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (SD EPSCoR); visit the Launch Web site to learn more.

Launch includes keynotes, exhibits, workshops and a Q&A with young entrepreneurs from throughout the country. Students will brainstorm with business professionals and meet like-minded students through networking events while faculty learn to integrate innovative and creative thinking into their respective disciplines.

Partners in the event include: Kelley Center for Entrepreneurship at DWU, the South Dakota Small Business Development Centers, the Enterprise Institute, South Dakota Governor’s Office of Economic Development, South Dakota EPSCoR, and the South Dakota State University Entrepreneurship Program.

Launch began five years ago when people from each of these groups got together and decided to create a state-wide opportunity for entrepreneurs to share their knowledge. Many students have taken advantage of the opportunity to learn more about what they’re interested in – creating businesses.

“Research shows that seven out of 10 high school students want to pursue their own entrepreneur adventure, so we asked, ‘How can we encourage that?’” Pole said. “And Launch was born.”

The speakers for this year include Dr. Kay Palan, Sheena Lindahl and Arel Moodie.

Palan, the associate dean for undergraduate programs at Iowa State University, will be on hand to discuss entrepreneurship education at the college level. She coordinates the university-wide entrepreneurial studies minor and chairs ISU’s entrepreneurship supervisory committee while being an active case writer in the areas of marketing strategy and entrepreneurship.

The conference’s keynote speakers, Lindahl and Moodie, are from Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour (EET). Both highly accomplished young entrepreneurs will discuss the challenges of starting a business and how they turned an idea into a success story.

EET provides practical advice not just for business school students, but those interested in creating their own opportunity. Whether they’ve studied philosophy or computer science, the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour encourages students to think like a savvy business owner and apply an entrepreneurial mindset to whatever career they choose.

Lindahl and Michael Simmons started the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour after they graduated from college in 2006 as a way to connect America’s top young entrepreneurs with students and encourage them to enter the business world.

The Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour has held more than 120 events throughout the country and has attracted more than 500 people at tour events. The organization has received the Innovation Award from the National Association of Development Organizations and the Program of the Year award from Northern Michigan University. Lindahl and Simmons have both received numerous business awards. Lindahl was named by Business Week as one of the country’s top 25 entrepreneurs under 25, and Simmons received entrepreneur of the year awards from the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship, Fleet, and the National Coalition for Empowering Youth Entrepreneurship.