University Venture Incubators: Empowering Entrepreneurs Across Campus

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With the entrepreneurial spirit teeming on university campuses across the nation, it’s no wonder many schools have begun to offer student entrepreneurs the resources they need to move their business ideas forward. And Gen Y students are taking advantage of these business incubators, turning their fresh and innovative ideas into moneymakers. 
 

“We’re going through a  tech renaissance, especially with new social media outlets - Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn - they have changed the landscape for companies.  Students are the early adopters, the first to start using it," explains Ashkan Afkhami, founder and CEO of Northeastern University’s venture accelerator IDEA (Inter-Disciplinary Entrepreneurship Accelerator). "People who graduated within the last four years, they’re the industry experts and know the ins and outs of social media.”

The younger generation has a competitive advantage - we’re hot commodities! So if you’ve got the motivation and know-how why not start your own business--especially in the university setting? For students, it is not just about the independent and innovative environment the entrepreneurial experience offers, but also this early opportunity to indulge the passion or interest that sparks the idea for creating a venture.  And when universities embrace this entrepreneurial spirit, students are more likely to find success.

 
Business incubator programs are typically extracurricular or a university requirement, and schools such as Northeastern University (Boston, Mass.), Babson University (Babson Park, Mass.) and Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, Pa.) have all caught the entrepreneurial bug, recognizing the importance of the young entrepreneur in today's job market.
 

While differing slightly in shape and size, most schools now employing the use of venture incubators typically provide students with the same core resources: access to physical space, valuable advice from mentors, and financial capital. And they all have the same goal in mind: to develop student entrepreneurs in an environment that allows them to learn and grow throughout the process, and to ultimately launch their ventures in the real world.
 
Babson and Northeastern each have extracurricular accelerator programs that aid in the progression of students’ businesses.  Babson provides access to a network of entrepreneurial experts and professional service providers. Northeastern builds on this network by also connecting entrepreneurs with other NU students who have the skills needed to create a team. A prospective venture then has the opportunity to apply for early-stage funding.
 
While neither program requires that student entrepreneurs pay them back for their services, they encourage contributions from profitable ventures to support and continue the production of successful student businesses.
 
At Carnegie Mellon, undergraduates in the Tepper School of Business are required to create real business plans and apply what they learn in the classroom to the real world. This curriculum gives entrepreneurs the hands-on experience needed to learn the fundamentals of creating a successful startup. Like Babson and Northeastern, Carnegie Mellon has also created an extracurricular program, called “Project Olympus,” that offers students space, expert advice and micro-grants.

 
Other schools running entrepreneurship programs aimed at accelerating development include Purdue University, Wake Forest University, Saint Louis University and Belmont University.
 
This implementation of business incubators in colleges is bringing the entrepreneurial world to a new age of bootstrapping--giving young startups the ability to get their businesses off the ground without resorting to venture capitalism and allowing them to have sole proprietorship of their businesses. It opens up doors for young professionals to do something they love and fully believe in--before they have even graduated from college. And in a time when society is evolving more rapidly than ever, college students with the skills, savvy and support can be the new-age entrepreneurs to create the successful businesses of tomorrow.
 
Megan Linebarger is a communications officer for Northeastern University's IDEA program. She will be writing a bi-weekly column on young entrepreneurship, including the experiences of the student's whose ventures IDEA selects to support.
 
Read more from YPNation on entrepreneurship.
 
(Photo credit: Caveman92223; C.C. 2.0)