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Entrepreneurship Boot Camp Returns for Round Two in May 2008
UNCG’s first Entrepreneurship Bootcamp was held over eight intensive days in May 2007. Students from a variety of majors including Cinema Broadcasting, Physics and Pre-Law participated in this for credit course coordinated by Dr. Kevin Lowe. More than 10 faculty members, drawn from across the campus and community including the Bryan School of Business and Economics, the Center for Creative Leadership, the UNCG Office of Technology Transfer and the UNCG Office of Leadership and Service Learning, delivered the formal content of the Bootcamp. The students also worked in groups, making daily decisions, to compete in a web based simulation that required them to startup, staff and grow a local coffee shop. Though the student’s found being exposed to ten faculty members in eight days engaging and the simulation to be a real-time way to test out their newly gained knowledge the highlight of the Bootcamp was perhaps the exposure they gained to local entrepreneurs and community resources for entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurs and community members charged with encouraging entrepreneurship in the Triad spoke to the student’s at the end of each class day. The entrepreneurs came from a variety of businesses including John Lomax of Lomax Construction, Joe Frazier of Biznet, Clavin Willams of XMG Web Design, Pat Nugent of Ad Color, Chen Chen of Sanmark LLC & Global Resources, Don Redding of Redding Advertising, Ron and Kelly Hahn of Haun Furniture, and Ann Givan of Waste Disposal Solutions. On the final night of the class the students were treated to a blue ribbon panel composed of many Triad support resources for entrepreneurship including Kathy Elliot of the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce, Sam Funchess of the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship, John Obermeyer of the Piedmont Triad Entrepreneurial Network, Mark Hagenbuch of the GTCC Small Business Center and Tom May who is Special Assistant to the Dean of the Bryan School and a former Director of the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship. With exposure to nearly a dozen faculty and more than a dozen entrepreneurs over eight intense days the course experience is perhaps summarized best by a student who stated “There was a lot to learn and some days my brain was full. But I’ve got great notes and some incredible insights. I had a great time and learned something new every day,”.
The inaugural UNCG Entrepreneurship Bootcamp which was jointly sponsored, both financially and administratively by the Bryan School of Business and Economics and the UNCG Office of Public and Private Partnerships.
This year’s Entrepreneurship Boot Camp will be taught by Joe Erba an entrepreneur and a current member of the faculty of the UNCG Bryan School of Business and Economics. Currently there are 24 students from across the campus registered for the course. This is a growth of 300% from last year.
For further information on either Boot Camp, contact Tom May, Assistant to the Dean for Economic Development Initiatives, at 336-256-01121, dtmay@uncg.edu, or http://BryanEcoDev.uncg.edu.