In Brief...

High School Entrepreneurship Challenge
In February, the Lake Erie College Center for Entrepreneurship hosted its first Entrepreneurship Challenge for students enrolled in some of Lake County's high schools. Several students presented their business plans to a panel of outside judges. The winning presentation was a proposed business that would create and market a pair of well-made, affordable shoes that have a unique artistic design that reflects and inspires today's youth culture. The first place winner took home a new laptop.

Ohio students needed
Ohio students with ideas, discoveries and inventions are being urged to enter the National Inventors Hall of Fame 2009 Collegiate Inventors Competition. The deadline is June 16, and more than $75,000 will be awarded to students who advance to the final judging. The program is designed to identify advanced research in all fields of science, engineering, math, technology, and creative invention. The competition spotlights individuals whose research, discoveries and inventions have the potential to receive patent protection. The competition is open to any graduate or undergraduate student. Ohio collegians are being urged to enter because the National Inventors Hall of Fame is based in Akron, and Ohio students have been underrepresented in recent competitions. Visit www.invent.org/collegiate for more information and applications.

Entrepreneurship Volunteer Opportunities
A recent Wall Street Journal article entitled, "Helping Themselves," discussed the creative ways nonprofits are staying in business, and one of these was to increase the number of volunteers they use.

In an effort to support volunteerism in entrepreneurship and financial literacy programs, the Foundation now has a Volunteer Opportunities page in the Entrepreneurship Resources section of our website that lists organizations to which the Foundation has awarded grants, and which would benefit from the volunteer support and expertise of business professionals. Access the list by visiting our website: www.bdmorganfdn.org and clicking on the entrepreneurship resources tab in the upper left. That will lead to a link for volunteer opportunities. Or visit: Volunteer Opportunities.

John Carroll to add entrepreneurship minor
John Carroll University will include a new interdisciplinary minor in entrepreneurship this fall as part of its new entrepreneurship focus. The minor will consist of a 21-semester hour course of study accessible to students from any major. John Carroll now also has a designated residential community in Murphy Hall known as Entrepreneurs' House, which has special facilities and programs for students interested in entrepreneurship.

Domike heads to Canada
Reuben Domike, who was hired in 2007 to head The College of Wooster's Center for Entrepreneurship, will be leaving the position at the end of the school year. Domike, a native of the Boston area and a graduate of MIT, will assume the position of Assistant Professor, School of Business, University of Prince Edward Island. He starts July 1.

Wooster: Comic proposal taken seriously
A proposal to promote more female comic creators and fans was one of the winners this year during competitions at The College of Wooster's Center for Entrepreneurship.

Senior Meredith Overcash was one of the grand prize winners in the arts division for "Psyche Comics for Women." Her plan involved the creation of a company that would publish quality graphic novels and provide a venue for networking among female creators.

She also won a separate award for the "best pitch" in her division. The comic industry continues to grow, she told judges, but female fans still remain few, and female creators are even rarer. Psyche Comics would fill this niche without losing the traditional comic book market or becoming a "girls" company, she said.

No horsing around here
The Equine Venture Consulting class at Lake Erie College provides teams of students in the equestrian program the opportunity to provide consulting services to entrepreneurial ventures within the equine industry.

Each of the businesses served by the class in the past year was less than four years old, and the teams were told to: 1) meet with the business owners to define the scope and expectations of the consulting project; 2) develop a consulting proposal for the client which outlines expectations and consulting project deliverables; 3) present the consulting project results; and 4) evaluate the effectiveness of the consulting experience.

Through this experience, students received an overview of entrepreneurial skills, business etiquette tools and consulting tools needed to be a successful equine entrepreneurial consultant. Lake Erie officials say the participating businesses were very pleased with the recommendations they received from the teams and felt that these would be helpful as they strive to grow their businesses in a challenging economy.