The Center for Entrepreneurship at West Liberty University continues to grow, extending its outreach beyond the hilltop campus to the larger business community, Director Carrie White said.
“The Center has three entities or components,” she explained, “the Small and Family Business Program, providing networking and training opportunities to business owners and entrepreneurs; the entrepreneurship curriculum in which any WLU student in any academic discipline may enroll; and Intellectual Property and Innovation, a technology transfer program.”
Small and Family Business Program “partners” consist of business owners, entrepreneurs and others interested in starting their own business. They work on a shared resources system, donating a few hours of expertise a month in an exchange of resources. With no traditional membership fees, White said, the Center for Entrepreneurship provides networking and training opportunities in exchange for the shared resources network.
“This business model was used to rebuild New Orleans after hurricane Katrina and it was extremely successful. I hope we can all work together in a similar fashion to support economic growth in the Wheeling area,” White added.
Entrepreneurship courses at WLU are open to any student who is interested in learning more about what is involved in working for oneself, and are being taught on the main campus and at the WLU Highlands Center.
“We are seeing more and more students who would like to go into business for themselves, from a music major wishing to give lessons and wondering how to charge for services to an education major considering opening a day care center. All of these people benefit from basic lessons in creativity and business development,” White said.
WLU President Robin C. Capehart has stated that one of the university’s goals is to stress entrepreneurship in all disciplines at the college level.
Through the Innovation and Intellectual Property technology transfer program, inventors and people with creative and new innovations can receive assistance with intellectual property ownership or transferring their existing patent to a feasible market, White explained.
“We have a core group of attorneys who are willing to donate time and training towards this effort. In addition, West Liberty University has experience in holding technology transfer programs in the past.”
White, former department chair in the Gary E. West College of Business at WLU and an associate professor of entrepreneurship and law, has been a business owner herself. She was named director of the Center for Entrepreneurship in January. Since then, she said, she has seen overwhelming growth in the area business community’s interest in participating in the center’s programs.
“We are so fortunate to have a talented business base here in our region. The people are so supportive towards one another. It is really exciting to see the programs moving forward. There are several events on the calendar for April and we already are moving forward with plans for next year.”
For more information, visit online at westliberty.edu/centerforentrepreneurship/.