What is 'Entrepreneurship (ENTR)'?
An entrepreneur is an individual who owns, organizes, and manages a business and, in so doing, assumes the risk of either making a profit or losing the investment. According to the Small Business Administration (1999), the total number of businesses in the United States in 1995 was somewhere between 16 million and 24 million, of which approximately 15,000 were large. In 1997, there were an estimated 8.5 million businesses owned by women.
Program Introduction
MCC's Entrepreneurship program is one of the fastest growing programs on campus and is taught in a REAL mode - generally no tests. Work done in any of 6 regularly offered courses that run both on campus and online are specifically designed to mirror REAL tasks that REAL entrepreneurs either need to do or know about. Courses attract both those interested in new startup planning AND those already actively engaged in business seeking knowledge and assistance. Although MCC launched its Entrepreneurship Program in 2006, it is now one of the largest educational providers of entrepreneurship education in Nebraska. MCC and Nebraska's Community Colleges were recently named as one of the best models for entrepreneur education and training in the nation by The American Association of Community Colleges.
Is It For You?
Entrepreneurs come in all shapes and sizes and personality types. Some are full of big ideas while others are better at execution. Some take big risks while others play it more safe. But there are a few things most successful entrepreneurs have in common.
The most common entrepreneurial traits include a strong desire to be your own boss, the drive to implement your ideas, and a thirst to control your own destiny. Entrepreneurs are inordinately determined to be successful and persevere in the midst of adversity. They thrive on ambiguity and prosper in a world that is confusing and has few answers.
Running your own business is an ongoing puzzle, a long series of problems to be solved. If you don't like constantly solving a multitude of problems, then an entrepreneurial career might be difficult. Much of your time will be spent troubleshooting, pinpointing problems that are plaguing the business, and trying to solve them. As soon as you solve one problem, others spring up.
Entrepreneurs need motivation, creativity, and persuasiveness. For more information: "Starting Your Own Business - Do You Have What It Takes?"
Program Faculty
Program Information
Some subject programs such as Culinary Arts and Early Childhood Education offer Specialist Diplomas that contain both Entrepreneurship and career specific education.
Credit Classes and Registration
Upcoming Events
2013 - Heartland Student Entrepreneur Conference
The 2013 Heartland Student Entrepreneur Conference will take place on Friday, April 19th from 8:30 – 2:30 at Metropolitan Community College's Fort Omaha Campus and will bring together over 200 middle, high and college students from the Omaha metro area specifically studying entrepreneurship, innovation or creativity. This 2nd and now annual conference is able to again be offered for FREE! and is not to be missed if you are an area student from the Heartland area (Douglas, Sarpy, Washington and Dodge counties, Nebraska).
This year's conference participants have a unique ability to be the first Nebraska students to take the YES! – (Your Entrepreneurial Strengths) assessment, a new entrepreneurial talent tool being launched in partnership with Gallup, Inc. prior to coming to the conference. At the conference, students will hear directly from Gallup experts on how to use their YES! results, as well as from other young, local entrepreneurs getting it done including Becky App and Abby Jordan from eCreamery who were recently seen on ABC’s Shark Tank and will be bringing their ice cream with them for a networking mixer.
Click Schedule to view the entire conference program.
For more information see the Heartland Student Entrepreneur Conference webpage.
Local Climate For Entrepreneurship
The number of Entrepreneurs in Omaha is increasing and they are doing well. Because of the varied nature of entrepreneurship endeavors, income expectations vary greatly. Nebraska, and Omaha in particular, has been reported to be following patterns in line with the national trends in terms of the growth of the number of entrepreneurs. Omaha entrepreneurs demonstrate a strong trend of out pacing the general per capita income in the city. See Entrepreneurship in Nebraska: conditions, Attitudes and Actions Eric C. Thompson and William B. Walstad, Gallup PressNew York, 2008
A new article shows that bad times can be good for entrepreneurs, see http://www.kauffman.org/Section.aspx?id=Entrepreneurship.
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