Entrepreneurship has long been a path for those who couldn’t conform to society’s rules and expectations. In the past, it was something that only those truly brilliant dared to attempt, or so it appeared. Nowadays, a variety of reasons may lead an individual down that path: A desire to accomplish something of one’s own, difficulty to find a job or dissatisfaction from living paycheck to paycheck. No matter what the reason though, all of these young men and women have one thing in common, and that is passion for business. These days it doesn’t take a genius to start a business – it takes a committed individual who is a fighter, creative, hard-working, and above all, passionate.
And that is the same answer that Karl LaPan, President of the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center (NIIC), will give when asked what sparked his interest in entrepreneurship.
“Many of my mentors are entrepreneurs, and I realized I have a passion and heart for accelerating the growth and development of businesses. I also have a wide variety of research and business interests,” he said. “And by working with entrepreneurs I get to see such a wide variety of ideas and ventures.”
The NIIC, which provides access to expertise, capital, specialized equipment, mentorship and connections to accelerate the growth of ventures, is the perfect place for aspiring entrepreneurs.
He drew a comparison when he said, “If a college football team needs a stadium to practice in, why wouldn’t students learning entrepreneurship need a student incubator to practice what they are discovering.”
LaPan, whose interest in entrepreneurship arose at a very young age when he started a restaurant in his parents’ kitchen, encourages students to “seek out opportunities, be open to pushing the envelope … and remember Nike’s slogan, ‘Just Do It.’”
However, for a lot of young people, making one’s own path and exploring the world of entrepreneurship seems a daunting challenge, one they are not comfortable undertaking. So why do more students than ever seriously take in consideration starting their own company, as early as high school—earlier, even? The answer can be found in the generational differences.
“This generation is different in the level of empowerment and myriad of choices they have,” says LaPan. “Students understand and consume technology … in all varieties and ways … They are much more collaborative in their work with others and in being technological early adopters,” he emphasized, which equips them well for entrepreneurial ventures, since the “ethos of entrepreneurial thinking is to surround [yourself] with all different perspectives.”
He lamented the fact that “very few classes…foster an integrative learning perspective, which saps our competitive drive, innovative thinking and intellectual curiosity.”
This is a sentiment shared by the Dean of Doermer Business School Dr. Otto Chang.
“Our students are incredibly creative, I firmly believe in their capabilities,” he said.
Chang, a supporter of entrepreneurial initiative among students, suggested that professors should encourage the students to express themselves freely, challenge them to come to unconventional ideas and release the innovative energy residing in each of them.
When sharing his thoughts on the startup culture in the region, Chang insisted that “the need [for innovation] is tremendous.”
He argued that not only do we need to instigate innovation among young people, we need to “challenge existing companies to be more innovative.”
Chang found that entrepreneurship is not very well-promoted. Therefore, many students do not see it as a viable solution. However, Keith Cassidy does.
Keith is a student at Indiana University who first started his computer-repair business in March of 2009. Since then, he’s expanded to network design and business solutions. Spending 9 years working for his mother, who also happens to be an entrepreneur, gave him his “first taste at being [his] own boss.” After that, it was only a matter of time before he followed into his mother’s footsteps, all the while dreaming up his next big idea.
Eddie Lopez, a 22-year-old business major at Indiana University had the same luck to inherit an entrepreneurial spirit. Without any prior experience, he expanded his father’s business to the Web, which to him “is an everyday learning experience,” one that he feels confident about. He notices that the students who own their own business “are very driven and are usually happier than those who have day-to-day jobs.”
Olivia Fabian, an Ivy Tech graduate who just expanded her sports apparel store to the swimsuit market, fits the bill. She recently won a New Venture Competition and received a package of funding and mentoring from the NIIC, which she will utilize to expand her business to boutiques on the West Coast. Olivia, too, had parents who instilled in her the love for entrepreneurship at a young age. When asked if she would consider becoming a serial entrepreneur, the answer was a categorical “Yes!”
All of these students have something fundamentally special about them, and that is the passion, energy and drive to be lifelong learners, to be movers and shakers. Each of them has determination to be a winner and to succeed in his or her own venture, which makes them truly inspiring. Each of them offered one piece of advice to aspiring entrepreneurs, and that is, as Olivia perfectly puts it, “Don’t second-guess yourself, if you have an idea – pursue it!”
