The EQ Journal Blog

Here is my take on what a decent undergrad program in entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship might look like at a Canadian University, circa 2009. I also include at the end, a laundry list of things that the University might do alone or in conjunction with other Universities across Canada to promote entrepreneurship as a career choice.

Note, I believe it is just as important for people who don’t like the risk profile of becoming an entrepreneur to learn and bring these skills to a JOB. No one has time anymore to babysit you on the job: if you don’t take the initiative in your job, if you need to be told what to do five times a day, if you can’t find launch or pre-launch clients for your next project or do the 101 things that entrepreneurs need to do to be successful, you probably won’t get that next promotion and you sure won’t be the next CEO.

December 10, 2008

(DRAFT)
University of Ottawa Telfer School of Management Entrepreneurship Concentration

1. The aim of both the graduate and undergraduate program should be to put the University of Ottawa in the top 5 worldwide in terms of entrepreneurship education, experience and research. The goal would be to compete successfully with Babson College, Boulder, Northeastern, Strathclyde (Hunter Centre) and the University of Lund and attract top students from across Canada and around the world.

2. This initiative should be a named Concentration and the University should try to raise a minimum of $2.5 million for it.

3. There should be a leading academic that takes up the position of Professor of Entrepreneurship—which should be a joint appointment of the Telfer School and the Faculty of Engineering. It may also include the Medical School, Science and Environmental Science as well as the Faculty of Arts—artists, bio-scientists, environmental scientists and others can benefit from entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial research, education and experience.

4. It should include a required practicum to compete with the top programs in the US and elsewhere. A term in a SMEE with a case study or research thesis would be an acceptable alternative for students not comfortable with a practicum.

5. Students from engineering and business as well as other disciplines would be encouraged to participate in the concentration.

6. Intrapreneur training would be an important part of the program as the Concentration equips students who will not be entrepreneurs with entrepreneurial skills to be applied within established organizations. Such organizations are not just for-profit businesses but also NGOs, charities, not-for-profit corporations, crown corporations, governmental departments and so forth.

7. This Concentration or Option could prepare students for graduate studies within the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

8. The Concentration would focus on non VC-funded ventures and enterprises, which form the bulk of new startups in Canada and around the world. This would not preclude the teaching of or research in the field of Angel-funded or VC-funded startups but that would not be the main focus of the new undergraduate Concentration or Option.

9. Suggested courses and practicum would include:

A) NEW VENTURE CREATION: CASE STUDY BASED.
B) CREATING INNOVATIVE BUSINESS MODELS FOR NEW ENTERPRISE FORMATION.
C) ENTREPRENEURIALIST CULTURE.
D) ACCESSING CAPITAL, SELF CAPITALIZATION AND EQUITY VALUATION.
E) DIGITAL MARKETING, SOCIAL MARKETING AND GUERRILLA MARKETING.
F) HOW TO SELL, NEGOTIATE AND POPULATE YOUR MARKET.
G) e-BUSINESS, e-LOGISTICS AND e-PROJECT PLANNING USING CRITICAL PATH AND OTHER METHODOLOGIES: INTEGRATING THE INTERNET INTO YOUR BUSINESS PROCESSES.
H) MANAGEMENT OF FAST GROWING, SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED COMPANIES IN THE NEW ECONOMY (Note this includes tech companies but is not exclusively tech).
I) SOCIAL ENTERPRISE: STARTING AND MANAGING A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE (NGOs, CHARITIES, NOT-FOR-PROFITS), EFFECTIVE BUSINESS MODELS FOR SUSTAINABLE, EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE SOCIAL ENTERPRISES.
J) BUSINESS LAW AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW.
K) ENGINEERING LAW AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW.
L) Choice of: WORK TERM IN/CASE STUDY OF A SMALL OR MEDIUM SIZED ENTERPRISE OR IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW BUSINESS MODEL IN A MENTORED PRACTICUM PROGRAM.

10. Create a student and staff exchange program with top Universities specializing in entrepreneurship education, research and experience.

11. Continue with an annual Elevator Pitch Competition.

12. Continue with an annual Business Model Competition.

13. Compete in the annual UOttawa Wes Nicol Business Plan Competition.

14. Aim to place one team from UOttawa in the annual National Wes Nicol Business Plan Competition.

15. Continue with the Faculty of Engineering’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Endowment Fund Business Plan Competition.

16. Establish an Entrepreneurship Clinic (similar to Carleton University’s School of Architecture’s Design Clinic)—implementing and operating on campus businesses (e.g., parking meter signs, mural arts program, EQ Journal, etc.) Also, build a Student Management Consulting Clinic (SMCC) staffed by both Telfer School of Management students and Faculty of Engineering students. Build a relationship between ACE Canada and Sife, Students in Free Enterprise and the SMCC. ACE and Sife will assist the SMCC in the following ways: a. Finding consulting work through their national and local sponsors: they will give SMCC a list of mentors who can help in this regard. b. Learn from students on other campuses who are also running student management consulting clinics and have been doing so for awhile; you can learn what works and doesn’t not only in terms of the type of offerings but also the type of marketing that results in consulting assignments. c. You can learn how to make the SMCC sustainable: how to transfer knowledge on to your student successors so the SMCC doesn’t die out. d. When students put “Sife Team Member” on their CVs, it will assist them in finding jobs. e. They will have an online job bank for Sife students as well.

17. Strengthen the already successful Entrepreneurs’ Club.

18. Further build the Career Centre.

19. Create a resource website for all entrepreneurship activity, teaching, research and support including bursaries and scholarships, mentoring and tracking of graduates and their enterprises (a la Million Dollar Home Page).

20. Develop a mentoring and unconventional mentoring program.

21. Build on the Faculty of Engineering’s Speaker series.

22. Develop an annual Bootstrap Awards program to reward the best startups, the cleverest guerrilla marketing, the most unique source of bootstrap capital, the greatest new idea for adding differentiated value, the best new business model, etc.

23. Develop “The Entrepreneurs Handbook”.

24. Develop Tools for entrepreneurs including: Measuring Pre-Disposition to Entrepreneurship (the ECQ Test), Online Business Model Generator, Differentiated Value and Business Model Scoring, Sources of Bootstrap Capital, Measuring Cash Conversion Cycles, Methods of Guerrilla Marketing, Measuring the Effectiveness of Guerrilla Marketing, GM Research Methods.

25. Develop a monitored entrepreneurship wiki for research as well as entrepreneurship tools and resources.

26. Develop an entrepreneurship blog and social networking site for entrepreneurs.

27. Track Entrepreneurship Graduates. (Provide Graduates with UOttawa Entrepreneurship Concentration email addresses for life.)

28. Mini-Offices—develop relationships with executive offices for UOttawa startups.

29. Foundation for Entrepreneurship—support for startups and receipt of royalties from startups.

30. Establish a national program to bring entrepreneurship experience to young people across Canada—for example, the proposed Christie Lake Kids program to have kids sell saplings in the Spring and leaf bags in the Fall.

31. Establish a national Entrepreneurs’ Week to celebrate entrepreneurs and disseminate entrepreneurship research. Conduct a national campaign on mainstream media and on the Internet to promote entrepreneurship as a career choice. For example, do a national one day competition (with prizes) to produce video case studies of real world businesses. Produce a national archive and resource of video case studies. Post them to the entrepreneurship website and to YouTube. Students today learn best perhaps using data rich videos. Tell the story, set the scene, describe the cast of characters, define the problem and some possible solutions then stop. Class discussion ensues. Then show what happened and provide an epilogue on the efficacy of what they did right … and wrong.

32. Require High Schools to teach business courses as a pre-requisite for entry to business schools.

33. Work with local school boards to establish High Schools for the Technological Arts and for Entrepreneurship similar to Canterbury High School for the Arts.

34. Create a National Foundation for Entrepreneurship—seed funding, royalty collection, commercialization of Canadian technologies, …

35. Create centres of excellence for the study of and promotion of entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship both at the University/College level and at the High School level.

36. Create a national mentoring program made up of both volunteer and paid mentors.

37. Reach out internationally to assist entrepreneurs around the world with Canadian know how in the field of entrepreneurship.

38. Establish “UN Day of the Entrepreneur”—celebrate the contributions of entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs to economic development, personal freedom and knowledge.

39. Video lecturers and speakers and put them on You Tube and other websites.

40. Every student to have his or her own blog and personal website.

41, Train students to make written, oral and video presentations based on their own work in business modeling and business planning.

42. Create a FAQ of student questions and faculty answers.

43. Start a ‘REACH OUT’ challenge: students have to create a good quality question and get it answered by a well known expert.

44. Help every person who wants one to create and hold onto a personal business for life that will support themselves and their families—after all, the moral imperative underlying entrepreneurship is to first take care of yourself and your family so as not to become a burden on society and then to reach out and help your fellow human.

Dr. Bruce M. Firestone, Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa.