Sep 10, 2014
By Rumasa Noor
The entrepreneurial ecosystem has grown immensely in Whitewater in recent years. There are numerous resources available to help local businesses as well as students who are interested in starting their own business.
Aside from the student organizations such as Collegiate Entrepreneurship Organization (CEO) and Enactus, UW -Whitewater’s Innovation Center also offers several programs and seminars to help students hone their entrepreneurial skills.
Innovation Center offers Whitewater Incubation Program (WhIP), which provides different services including mentoring, consulting and more. This program includes Innovation Hub (iHub) and the Launch Pad program.
iHUB is a string of programs that offers developmental support and services to startups.
Launch Pad is a student business incubator offering a wide variety of services to students, from mentoring to office space. It offers a stipend to students each semester to encourage them to participate and take advantage of it to start and eventually grow their business.
Most mentors in these programs are faculty members of UW-Whitewater.
Another resource for students to utilize is the Student Chamber of Commerce. It helps students who are interested in starting their own business and enables them as well as local businesses to advertise on campus.
In addition to student organizations and Innovation Center programs, there is another platform known as Small Business Development Center (SBDC) provides consulting and training to the people who own a small business and those who want to start a new venture.
All of these resources help entrepreneurial students in different ways. Students get a chance to learn from and work with experienced individuals who help them acquire knowledge they need to run their businesses.
My advice for students interested in entrepreneurship is to take advantage of the resources as much as possible. Many of these programs are free for students. They can learn practical lessons that they might have to learn the hard way in the real world.
