Today marks the first day of Entrepreneurship Week at the Anderson School of Management, commencing a series of events from Feb. 23-28 filled with speaker summits, student mixers and cross-campus discussion of ideas.
Elaine Hagan, the executive director of the Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, said entrepreneurship is recognizing opportunities where others see challenges.
“Where the great ideas seem to occur is when people of different disciplines come together and share ideas,” Hagan said.
“We’re trying to make entrepreneurship a little more interdisciplinary and to have people cross boundaries and feel comfortable doing so,” she added.
She said that the second annual Entrepreneurship Week should encourage students outside of the Anderson School that being an entrepreneur is not unique to the business industry.
“Lots of great ideas we see in big companies involve other professions,” she said.
“We’re trying to get other UCLA people to see how they can be entrepreneurs also.”
Given the current economic downturn, students will need to be creative to be successful and to carve their own career paths after graduation, said Kate Plikus, an owner/manager of Entrepreneurship Week.
Hagan said what is most important is having an entrepreneurial mindset along with developing layers and skills that allow one to be more capable and take on additional responsibilities.
Kelly Perdew, the winner of “The Apprentice 2,” will speak at 5:40 p.m. today as a keynote speaker of the week-long event, according to the Entrepreneurship Week Web site.
Throughout the week, other prominent businessmen and women will speak.
Departments across campus, including the School of Education and the School of Theater, Film and Television have been invited to participate in mixers with Anderson students.
Undergraduate students across campus are welcome and encouraged to attend as well, Hagan said.
“Maybe there’s an undergrad with an idea who isn’t going to business school or doesn’t want an MBA,” she added. “Talking to someone here might be able to help them with that.”
Ultimately, Entrepreneurship Week should demystify what it means to be an entrepreneur, Hagan said.
“Entrepreneurship can be a very nebulous term for students, and we wanted to make it real and tangible,” she said.