Entrepreneurial Opportunity Center Marks 2009 Global Entrepreneurship Week with Practical Advice, Guidance

Center Joins More Than 650 Organizations in the U.S. to Educate and Inspire Next Generation of Entrepreneurs, Nov. 16-22

November 3, 2009
Contact: University Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739

The University of Baltimore's Entrepreneurial Opportunity Center will host special events to mark Global Entrepreneurship Week, Nov. 16-22, a celebration of the vital role entrepreneurs play in innovation, job creation and economic recovery. The EOC will sponsor two events—"Mission, Inc.: The Practitioner's Guide to Social Enterprise" and "The Cost of Capital: Funding in a Down Economy"—both designed to convey practical advice and guidance and to motivate entrepreneurs to find new ways of succeeding and effecting change in a tumultuous financial and ethical landscape.

The EOC is marking the 2009 Global Entrepreneurship Week as a signal event in the evolution of how Americans view entrepreneurs.

"We are standing with our partner organizations in affirming that entrepreneurship is now a vital part of the new economy, and is thought of as essential to the future of business and society," said Jim Kucher, EOC executive director. "Having an entrepreneurial outlook now means having both a vision and a toolkit to take on everyday business challenges."

Co-founded in 2008 by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in the United States and Make Your Mark, a business-led and government-backed campaign in the United Kingdom, Global Entrepreneurship Week connects young people through local, national and global activities designed to help them explore their potential as self-starters and innovators. Students, educators, entrepreneurs, business leaders, employees, non-profit leaders, government officials and others will participate in a host of activities that include virtual and face-to-face events, large-scale competitions and intimate networking gatherings.
 
The 2009 Global Entrepreneurship Week is estimated to exceed the 3 million people and 8,800 organizations around the globe that participated in the inaugural Global Entrepreneurship Week in 2008. Already, more than 650 organizations in more than 80 countries have signed up.
 
"The world knows that entrepreneurship is the key to economic recovery, and the next generation of innovators holds that key," said Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation. "Now more than ever, we need to unleash the creativity and ingenuity of our youth by engaging them in the endless possibilities of entrepreneurship."

"Mission, Inc.: The Practitioner's Guide to Social Enterprise" will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 17 beginning at 6 p.m. in the William H. Thumel Sr. Business Center, 11 W. Mt. Royal Ave. Kevin Lynch, co-author of Mission, Inc., president of Rebuild Resources and co-founder of the Social Enterprise Alliance, will lead an exploration of the paradoxes that can hamstring social enterprises. Lynch will explain how starting and running a social enterprise requires leaders to adopt an entirely different mindset and often a wholly different perspective on the day-to-day choices they're forced to make.

To register for this event, click here. For more information, click here.

"The Cost of Capital: Funding in a Down Economy" will take place on Thursday, Nov. 19 at 8:30 a.m., also in the William H. Thumel Sr. Business Center. Participants will join some of Baltimore's premier entrepreneurs and financiers for a frank discussion of next stage funding—where to find it and what it can mean to your business.

To register for this event, click here. For more information, click here.

The Entrepreneurial Opportunity Center, part of the Merrick School of Business at UB, is a growing campus-based venture designed to support local entrepreneurs as they continue to move into the economic mainstream of the city, the region and beyond.

Now in its fourth year, the center provides much-needed programs that support  individuals and groups as they build, launch and grow innovative ventures, relying on in-house staff and faculty expertise and a growing contingent of external consultants, successful UB alumni entrepreneurs, and volunteers from the business community.

The University of Baltimore is a member of the University System of Maryland and comprises the School of Law, the Yale Gordon College of Liberal Arts and the Merrick School of Business.