During Global Entrepreneurship Week in the United States, a wide range of partner organizations in all 50 states plan meet-ups, workshops, pitch competitions, film festivals and more to celebrate local entrepreneurs. Colleges and universities are some of the more active GEW partners and in the North Carolina Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill triangle, GEW is alive and thriving.
North Carolina State University, and its NC State Entrepreneurship program, is one of the key organizers for GEW in the state. Megan Greer, the assistant vice provost and managing director of NC State Entrepreneurship, said the initiative is a campus-wide program that supports student entrepreneurship – supporting students from just about every major across campus.
Greer said the NC State Entrepreneurship program carries the flag for GEW on campus because they focus on the co-curricular aspect of entrepreneurship. The pgoram has student work, living and idea-creation spaces at the Garage, and the Albright Entrepreneurs Village. The Village is a living and learning community, where student entrepreneurs live and connect with like-minded peers. The Garage is NC State’s venture creation and prototyping space – designed for students to come together from disciplines across campus, and explore their entrepreneurial ideas and interests.
“I know when we came together three years ago,” Greer said, “it was really a collaborative effort [across campus]. We saw GEW as a great opportunity to celebrate all of the wonderful things happening in entrepreneurship at NC State, and an opportunity for all of our communities to work together as pat of GEW. It also allows our students to plug into what is happening globally.”
During GEW, Greer said the program will be launching its new website with information and resources for students, as one of the first campus-wide initiatives that week. One GEW activity, she said, is “Ladies Who Launch,” an event that brings successful women entrepreneurs on campus to discuss their challenges and achievements starting their own company – inspiring other female and student entrepreneurs to follow in their footsteps.
Another activity is the Entrepreneurship Simulation, which is a day-long event where students will start with an idea, and have a venture they can pitch by the end of the day. The simulation is designed to take students through the entrepreneurial process. NC State will also host Wolf’s Den for the third year, a live pitch competition for student entrepreneurs to vie for “investment” from a panel of judges – allowing students to gain experience pitching, receive feedback, and compete for money. The simulation will be held Friday, November 17, and the Wolf’s Den is Saturday, November 18.
Global Entrepreneurship Week is one event each year that helps reinforce NC State Entrepreneurship’s focus, and the Global Entrepreneurship Network’s core belief – that entrepreneurship is for anyone, anywhere.
“I think that people believe that entrepreneurship is very engineering, or very tech heavy, they think of startups in that space,” said Macy Thomas, brand manager of NC State Entrepreneurship. “But here, I think that we have a lot of founders who are humanities-based, or in the textiles, or in the nonprofit space. We really try to encourage our students that entrepreneurship is not one thing. We have the whole mindset, that it’s about identifying a problem, and coming up with a solution to solve that problem – and that solution can be through a myriad of different ways.”
Thomas said the takeaway she hopes people have with the event is the excitement about the community around entrepreneurship at NC State, and the Raleigh-Triangle area.
“I hope that it brings more awareness of the offerings our university, and the city as a whole, have for entrepreneurs,” she said.
“My hope for GEW is probably what we always hope – that this week gives our student entrepreneurs, the 1,200 students that we work with on a regular basis across campus, the opportunity to learn new skills about entrepreneurship, or give them an opportunity to practice their skills,” said Greer. “And if there are students out there who maybe haven’t engaged with us, it gives them the opportunity to explore entrepreneurship.”