Entrepreneurship: The Next Generation

Entrepreneurship is alive, thriving and growing on our college campuses!

The Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization (CEO), founded in 1997, held its 2018 Global Conference and Pitch Competition in Kansas City, November 1 – 3, 2018, attended by about 1,000 students representing 250 college and university chapters around the globe. CEO’s mission is to “inform, support and inspire college students to be entrepreneurial and seek opportunity through enterprise creation” (www.c-e-o.org).

I was invited to present a breakout session on the subject of “Negotiating Startup Capital,” not really knowing very much about CEO or its annual conference. Arriving early to set up for my presentation, I noticed the room for my presentation was not very large but had been packed nearly wall-to-wall with chairs. I thought about rearranging the room set-up to create a bit more comfort for what I assumed would be a sparse attendance, with my session scheduled after a long keynote speech in the hotel ballroom and just before a lunch break. I got busy making sure my electronic devices were properly connected and ready to go, and so I did not have time to rearrange the room.

Suddenly students began arriving, and arriving, and arriving! Every seat was taken, and then they filled the limited standing room in the back, and then they stood in the hallway just outside the door. The students were highly attentive, and my fifty-minute presentation was peppered with questions. They lined up afterward with follow-up questions.

The students’ excitement, energy and insightful questions give great hope in believing that the spirit of entrepreneurship, which powers our economy and creates wealth, has a very strong future indeed.