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MU mechanical engineering student Paul Pattison, the University
of Missouri System's 2006 Student Entrepreneur of the Year,
created the Internet service PictureCloud.
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Aspiring
Entrepreneurs Can Choose From Many Mizzou Programs
The venturing buzz abounds at Mizzou. An astounding
range of programs and courses support student and faculty entrepreneurs.
Some entrepreneurs are launching social ventures
to improve the world, while others hope to improve their cash
flow, be their own bosses, launch a new product or make their
mark on the world.
What’s driving this entrepreneurial
epidemic? Experts say it reflects changes in society. “Today's
kids may have seen their parents get downsized after working for
a large corporation their whole careers,” says Jake Halliday,
CEO of the Missouri
Innovation Center.
“The era of working for one company
for 30 or 40 years is past,” says Mary Paulsell, director
of operations for the MU
Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. “Now the
key to educating a qualified work force is to prepare students
to explore options.”
Here is a snapshot of some of the programs
and people who are contributing to the entrepreneurial buzz at
MU.
Elynor and Leslie Flegel,
motivated by their experiences growing a billion-dollar
company, established an academy for aspiring entrepreneurs.
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Businesses build something that survives
Leslie Flegel, BA '59, says he “wanted
to build something that would survive me” when he created
Source Interlink Companies,
one of the leading magazine distributors in the country.
He and his wife, Elynor, are funding the Flegel-Source
Interlink Academy for Aspiring Entrepreneurs to prepare students
to embark on entrepreneurial ventures with confidence. Their gift
will enable 20 students to get in-depth instruction in every aspect
of launching a business. The Academy already has hosted MU Ventures,
a competition where students pitched ideas to a panel of judges
composed of community business people. The Academy's full program
rolls out this fall.
Students get face time with experts
Al McQuinn, BS Ag '54, developed innovative
fertilizer and pesticide application systems. His resourcefulness
resulted in a lucrative business and recognition as one of the
top 10 influencers of 20th century agriculture, an honor he shared
with Nobel Prize winner Normal Borlaug and environmentalist Rachel
Carson.
McQuinn endowed the Al and Mary Agnes McQuinn
Chair in Entrepreneurial Leadership in the College
of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. Bruce Bullock,
agricultural economist, holds the endowed position. His students
get face time with expert entrepreneurs to learn how determination
and risk-taking contribute to success.
Entrepreneurship is a team sport
Twenty years ago, the Missouri General Assembly
created centers at each University System campus to spark economic
development in the state. The Missouri Innovation Center at MU,
headed by Jake Halliday, recently received a $2.5 million federal
grant to develop a business incubator.
Halliday teaches an MBA course in entrepreneurship
in the College of Business.
Students divide into venture teams and develop business plans
to launch high-growth companies. This semester, the companies
are in the Internet, bioenergy and biomedical sectors.
“High-tech entrepreneurship is a team
sport,” Halliday says. “You need a range of talents
to be successful.” The Missouri Innovation Center helps
clients develop skills such as writing business plans, doing market
research and attracting capital. Student interns multiply the
Center’s effectiveness by helping in areas such as accountancy
and marketing. 
Students get their feet wet
The University Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship,
funded by the Small Business and Economic Development administrations,
provides expertise to emerging or existing firms. Mary Paulsell,
director of operations, says students working at the center solve
problems commonly encountered by small businesses.
The center gets a constant flow of requests
for assistance. Student interns work with staff members to help
clients do market research, financial analyses and other tasks.
“Students work hand-in-hand with professionals,” Paulsell
says. “It's a great learning experience for them.”
Matchmaking for life sciences
The Scientific
Partnership and Resource Connection (SPARC) matches promising
new products with industries and investors who can take them to
market. SPARC is a partnership between Regional
Economic Development, Inc., and MU's Office
of Technology and Special Projects.
SPARC ignites new ventures by connecting community
and academic entrepreneurs with the business community. At the
SPARC-hosted “Ideabounce” in Jan., entrepreneurs from
the faculty, student body and community gave two-minute “elevator
speeches” about their products to a panel of corporate judges.
Winners took home modest prizes, but all the participants got
to bounce their ideas off industry experts.
Peer to peer enterprise
The first entrepreneurial Freshman Interest
Groups (FIGs) got under way in the 2004-2005 academic year. Eleven
freshmen attended weekly seminars to learn about fundamental principles
such as writing business plans, business ethics and market research.
This year, three FIGs focus on themes of business entrepreneurship,
social entrepreneurship, and creativity, innovation and the arts.
Local chapters of national groups, Collegiate
Entrepreneurs Organization and Students
in Free Enterprise teamed up last year to teach financial
literacy to high school students through a game called Cashflow.
The group won the “Rookie of the Year” award in state
competition for their effort and potential.
Plans for an expanded Brady Commons include
space for student entrepreneurs to sell their products or services.
Meeting real needs
The Entrepreneurship-Manufacturing
Innovation Laboratory Experience (EMILE) brings together faculty
from business and engineering to teach budding engineers how to
develop, manufacture and market new products.
Recent classes tackled problems posed by aging
populations. They developed a cart for dispensing medicine at
nursing homes; the cart dispenses the appropriate medication for
each patient with the swipe of an encoded card.
Clusters of creativity
The Ewing
Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City provided a grant
of almost $600,000 to the Interdisciplinary
Entrepreneurship Research Group (IERG), composed of 19 faculty
members from five disciplines. IERG conducts interdisciplinary
research on entrepreneurship.
The three-year grant will support research
in the areas of life sciences start-up companies and their tendency
to “cluster” in geographic areas, the factors that
nurture those clusters and how higher education fosters entrepreneurship.
The Kauffman Foundation provided an additional
grant of nearly $50,000 to enable MU to develop other entrepreneurial
opportunities for students.
The menu is growing
The College of Business will add to its menu
of venture courses with the Hibbs
/ Middlebush Chair of Entrepreneurship. Richard A. Johnson,
recently hired from the University of Oklahoma, will hold the
endowed position. He will teach in the areas of strategic management
and entrepreneurship beginning in the fall.
Originally included in the spring 2006
For All We Call Mizzou newsletter, this story and photos
have been republished with permission from the MU Publications and
Communication office.
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Last Update:
November 15, 2007
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