THE ENTREPRENEURSHIP program, Billiken Angels Network and Center for Entrepreneurship at Saint Louis University exist to fulfill Saint Louis University’s overall ambition to promote entrepreneurship in a variety of ways.
Through both the entrepreneurship program and its website (http://eWeb.slu.edu), Saint Louis University helps students actually become entrepreneurs – or, if they already have their own businesses, become better entrepreneurs. As educators, SLU faculty feel they have a responsibility to develop not only entrepreneurs, but also new materials that contribute to the discipline of entrepreneurship education. For example, over 220 colleges use the entrepreneurship and small business text developed from Saint Louis University’s program.
SLU’s entrepreneurship program offers an undergraduate concentration (major) and supporting area (minor) in entrepreneurship as well as an MBA area of emphasis (major).
Nationally-Recognized Classroom Innovations
The entrepreneurship program has won every major award and top-tier ranking in entrepreneurship education and is considered one of the most innovative academic programs in the country. Nearly all courses are co-taught by professors with state-of-the-art knowledge about the latest techniques in entrepreneurship working with student-focused entrepreneurs who bring real-world knowledge and contacts to every class.
Other innovations include an award-winning website supporting entrepreneurship, real-life student feasibility and business plan projects, and a curriculum which has won national awards for excellence. Program graduates are not just ready for the real world; they are ready to make their own worlds and ideas real.
Student Competitions
The entrepreneurship program sponsors a variety of campus-wide student competitions including a CEO elevator pitch competition, Idea To Product® (I2P) new ideas competition, Innovation Chase, the Bright Ideas Grant (BIG) social venture competition and the Campus-Wide Business Plan Competition. Winners of the elevator pitch and I2P competitions go on to represent SLU at national competitions.
These competitions draw entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and other investors to the campus and provide students with feedback on their ideas and networking opportunities for their (and their businesses’) future. Together, the prize purses for the programs exceed $50,000 a year.
Student Entrepreneurship Support Organizations
Saint Louis University supports student entrepreneurship in several ways. The Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (gsea.org) started at SLU and is now run by the Entrepreneurs’ Organization. Today the campus sports an award-winning chapter of the Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization (the premier national entrepreneurship student group) and other programs on campus tying students to the national Self-Employment in the Arts Convention and the Kern Family Foundation Engineering Entrepreneurship Convention.
SLU students have historically created entrepreneurial opportunities with a social conscience such as the Campus Kitchen, which was piloted at SLU in the 1990s and more recently the campus’ new social venture competition.
Center for Entrepreneurship
Representing the outreach arm of the entrepreneurship program, the nationally-recognized Center for Entrepreneurship organizes and involves students in a variety of efforts such as consulting to businesses and non-profits, operating entrepreneurship academies for high-school students, and working with the Habitat for Neighborhood Business – a retail incubator that redevelops low-income neighborhoods, and organizing the Smurfit-Stone Entrepreneurial Alumni Hall of Fame. The center also works with the school’s internship office to get entrepreneurship students outstanding placements with the top small businesses and incubators in the region.
Billiken Angels
One of the few university-based angel networks in the country, the Billiken Angels was developed in 2007 to identify and invest funds and expertise in those businesses that can make a difference in the economy of the St. Louis region, and in the lives of the people living in the region and elsewhere.
The program focuses on growing businesses owned by current or former SLU students, current or retired SLU faculty and staff, or firms using intellectual property licensed from SLU. SLU undergrads assist the angels in finding and evaluating business opportunities.
Mentoring at SLU
The entrepreneurship program and Center for Entrepreneurship are firm believers in the value of mentoring, and work hard to make arrangements for their students and alums to share in the kinds of mentoring opportunities that can help make them happier, more rounded and more successful entrepreneurs.
- Mentor-In-Residence provides an outstanding and widely experienced mentor to provide free help to students, faculty and staff on campus, as well as SLU alums who could use a knowledgeable and sympathetic expert with whom they can discuss business.
- In-class Mentoring is provided by the faculty and by entrepreneurs who help the classes as presenters, judges, and even clients for feasibility studies and business plans.
- Eat With an Entrepreneur where three students with an interest in a particular industry or profession meet over lunch or dinner with a prominent entrepreneur from that industry or profession to develop insights and contacts.
Chances to Develop Your Ideas
Saint Louis University sponsors a variety of programs to help students develop their ideas and grow them into businesses. These range from elevator pitch competitions (based on a 60-second pitch), to Idea to Product competitions (based on a two-page idea summary), to Innovation Chase teams (based on an idea you got that day), to business plan competitions for student developed businesses as well as for social ventures. The University offers mentoring assistance along the way and the potential for funding as students get ready to launch.
Local Expertise, National Visibility
Saint Louis University’s Entrepreneurship Program and Center have received the major awards for excellence in entrepreneurship education and outreach, and the Program has received one or more national rankings in entrepreneurship every year since 1994.
