This past spring, the Center for Entrepreneurship in the Craig School of Business partnered with American Family Insurance to offer Entrepreneurship Week, a week-long series of workshops and events for the St. Joseph community. Entrepreneurship Week was targeted toward local business professionals, aspiring entrepreneurs, college students, high school students, and those curious about the skills needed to run a small business. More than 500 participated.
Steve Craig speaks at a lunch to cap off Entrepreneurship Week
“The purpose of the week was not only to celebrate entrepreneurism, but to offer workshops to help business owners or prospective business owners learn about owning a business,” said Annette Weeks ’87, director of the Center.
Missouri Western business professors from multiple disciplines offered small, personalized sessions throughout the week. Examples of the sessions included How to Write a Business Plan, Artists as Entrepreneurs, QuickBooks for Beginners, Advanced QuickBooks, Social Media Tools for Small Businesses, Protect Your Business Idea and Using Excel for Beginners.
As part of the week, the MECA Challenge Kansas City Youth Competition for high school students was held on campus. The week ended with a lunch featuring a presentation by Steve Craig. Students had the opportunity to meet with Craig for a question-and-answer session prior to the lunch.
Also this past spring, Weeks conducted a three-day training for members of the new North Central Missouri Business Facilitation group in partnership with Northwest Missouri Enterprise Facilitation.
In less than two years, the Center for Entrepreneurship in the Craig School of Business has served more than 200 new and existing businesses in St. Joseph and the surrounding region. All services are free and confidential.