Entrepreneurship is the dynamic aspect of business. It never stops experimenting, bending and shaping business practice and disrupting old business models.
Entrepreneurs drive change in business models across industries and markets and it is true here at Western University as well. We have witnessed the first wave of entrepreneurship at the University, where we struggled in business schools to carve out curricular time to build programs and experiences for our students. We still have work to do in this regard but over the past 20 years we have, generally speaking, earned the respect of our colleagues, created innovative curriculum and meaningful experiences for our students.
The second wave is upon us and this wave is already in full curl at some institutions. We believe the second wave is about creating pathways to practice for our students and embedding these pathways in self-reinforcing communities of entrepreneurial thinkers. We are working with the broader University to develop a community of entrepreneurial-minded people that can work together to create ideas that excite the world. Our students will benefit from world-class ideas, and expertise residing and developed across Western and the University will benefit from the world-class capability and expertise at the Ivey Business School.
A community doesn’t just appear and it certainly isn’t created over night. To build the type of community that we can all be proud of will take all of our efforts. We are creating different pathways for our students to help them bridge to venture more effectively. We are doing this through an accelerator for high potential VC seeking ventures, through virtual accelerators for social enterprises like that being run by Sarah Richard, MBA ’15, and for students with great teams and good ideas that just don’t fit the VC paradigm. To build a successful ecosystem, we also need to build pathways for our alumni and friends to join and help us build our community. If you are interested in helping build that community, please give us a call or drop us an email.