Starting your own business may no longer be a pipe dream.
The College of Business is currently working on creating an Entrepreneur Certificate, which would be an add-on to existing programs.
Stacy Harper, a senior in graphic design, said she thinks this would appeal to a lot of Ferris students. “Entrepreneur courses are what attracted me to Ferris State in the first place,” she said.
Harper said that she had planned on starting her own business when she was in high school but ended up going into graphic design.
“An Entrepreneur Certificate could very well help me, if not from the mere experience of the course, than from the inclusion of the certificate on my resume,” said Harper.
Shirish Grover and Lon Green partnered to create entrepreneurship opportunities at Ferris. They are hoping to have the Entrepreneur Certificate available to students by fall 2012.
According to Grover and Green, 90 percent of first time business owners fail, but on the second try 75 percent succeed. They hope to up the success percentage for the first time by providing a safe learning environment.
“Experiment, explore, and make it happen,” said Grover in relation to the success rate.
Acacia Freeman, a senior in advertising/integrated marketing communication, said that she did not think the certificate would benefit her for she is looking to work for someone else.
Freeman said she may have considered the Entrepreneur Certificate as a freshman but she does not believe it would benefit her now that she is so far in her major.
“One of the things Michigan needs is more businesses and more business growth,” said Green. “We want to build majors for where careers will be building.”
Green and Grover said the College of Business is also thinking about adding an entrepreneur bachelors and masters degree. These degrees are still in the planning stages.
Green and Grover stated that the entrepreneur degrees are designed to target a mindset and not any one major. Students in any major are highly encouraged to explore their options.
These majors may be more flexible than other majors in that the core classes may be smaller giving the student more room to decide which classes they will need to benefit their business. New courses may also be developed.
Global Entrepreneur Week is Nov. 14-20. Ferris will be hosting several activities and competitions in an effort to spark interest in entrepreneur education. There will also be an entrepreneur boot camp this summer.
Harper added that she thinks the Entrepreneur Certificate would be the most useful to her. “I don’t have time to add a minor or major to my course load. A certificate would be more
helpful.”