Recruiting Entrepreneurship

In January 2012, The Huffington Post published an article that posed the question, “What if universities recruited entrepreneurs like they recruited athletes?” 33 Corridor News now poses the same question on a local level.

Ohio University is an institution that spent $2,644,304.90 for football and basketball scholarships in 2011, according to Pam Dailey, the Records Management Coordinator at Ohio University.

The OU Center for Entrepreneurship has yet to design or implement a high school recruitment strategy, according to Kevin Aspegren, a faculty member of the OU Center for Entrepreneurship.

Alex Hyla, a freshman at Ohio University, runs his own audio production company. He said  recruiting student entrepreneurs would be valuable in attracting innovative students to the university.

“I would go to a school that would give me incentives and resources to start my own business over another school that does not,” he said.

The OU Center for Entrepreneurship, however, is little over a year old, and is still establishing a fixed curriculum. Aspegren said the focus right now is to establish an entrepreneurship community within the university’s existing student population. Initiatives to get students more involved include a student video competition with $100 cash prizes for National Entrepreneurship Week, in which local entrepreneurs are featured, as well as various brainstorm and pitch events.

“There have always been strong pockets of entrepreneurs but the center has really been pulling it all together,” said Aspegren. “Through student engagement and six clubs, we have created a culture of entrepreneurship not present on any other campus in the country.”

Hugh Sherman, Dean of the College of Business, outlined what an entrepreneurship recruitment strategy would possibly look like.

“For students who have a real interest in entrepreneurship, we could provide them with executives in residence who mentor them,” Sherman said. “They could be provided with space and early funding to get their business started.”

According to Aspegren, the Center for Entrepreneurship’s main goal is to create awareness of entrepreneurship throughout the Athens region.

“We want students who are interested in entrepreneurship to come to Ohio University and not Miami or any other school for that matter,” said Aspegren. “We’re looking for ideas that are viable, sustainable and profitable.”