About the Entrepreneurship Program

                          
 Harold   P.   Welsch,   Ph.D.
 Coleman Foundation Endowed Chair
 in  Entrepreneurship,    Director  and
Founder of Entrepreneurship Program

MBA Concentration and  Undergraduate Program in Entrepreneurship. The Entrepreneurship Concentration is characterized by its contemporary, integrative approach to management and by having the most comprehensive set of entrepreneurship courses in the U.S.. Among the courses offered are: Entrepreneurship- New Venture Management, Growth Strategies for Emerging Firm, Creativity and Entrepreneurship, Financing New Ventures, Business Valuation Concepts, Management of Innovation and Technological Change, Franchising Management, Corporate Ventures and Intrapreneurship, New Product Development, and Contemporary Entrepreneurship.

Undergraduate courses include: Business Plan Development, Entrepreneurship Strategy, Family Business Enterprises, Global Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship in the Arts, Personal Selling, Management of Services, Entrepreneurship Law, Advertising and Promotion, Electronic Commerce.
 

Research. Faculty research is focused on Economic Development, Entrepreneurship Careers, Women and Minority Business, Creativity Expansion Plans, "Angels", and Ethnic Entrepreneurs. Recent publications include books : Entrepreneurial Strategy. Text and Cases and International Entrepreneurship and Small Buslness Bibliography by Harold Welsch ; Blueprints for Innovations and Field Casework.- Methods for Consulting to Small and Start-up Businesses by Lisa Gundry; New Venture Success. A Comparison between successful and unsuccessful entrepreneurs and Training and Education of Entrepreneurs. A study of Company Founders by Gerhard Plaschka. The second edition of International Entrepreneurship Bibliography by Welsch and Klandt includes more than 30,000 references from over 60 countries and is the most complete and comprehensive in the world.
 

Annual Private Enterprise Network Symposium (PEN) highlighting growing businesses seeking second round financing. PEN was created to assist entrepreneurial firms in Chicagoland area in their growth process. PEN is a formal symposium where an emerging entrepreneurial business is chosen to present their business plan and gain feedback from a panel of selected business experts and an audience of professionals.
 


Annual Creative Idea Competitions which are open to DePaul students, high school students and local business community. All ideas for new products and services that can be converted to start-up businesses are eligible. Among previous winners are DePaul students, inventors and local entrepreneurs.
 

Active DePaul Entrepreneurship Group (DEG) which includes current entrepreneurship students and entrepreneurship alumni. The DEG Networking Directory is maintained and focus groups are held on the regular basis which provide more informal assistance to local entrepreneurs that need a 'sounding board' for their ideas as well as feedback on solutions to particular problems.
 

Entrepreneurship in the Arts. The new course Entrepreneurship in the Arts: Self-Employment in the Creative Professions is designed to enhance a career in the Arts. It encourages the development of the entrepreneurial attitude that may be utilized in all endeavors of one's career.
 

Student internships are provided in consulting for local business community which include assistance to small business owners under supervision of a faculty member. Programs are coordinated with the Egan Urban Center where consulting and technical support is provided as a community service to minority and economically depressed areas of City of Chicago.
 

Small Business Institute (SBI). Since the program was initiated at DePaul in 1972 the SBI has assisted over 800 Chicagoland small businesses. Teams of students under the guidance of faculty member attack many business related problems and help identify opportunities of increased profit. Particular attention is paid to startup and minority owned businesses.
 

Research on both needs and achievements of our entrepreneurship alumni is conducted. Among successful businesses started by DePaul Entrepreneurship Program students and alumni are a bank,  CPA and consulting firms, America's Finest Pasta Sauces, Gourmet Candies,  The Grand Event, and many more.
 

Collegiate Entrepreneurs  Organization . As an important part of entrepreneurship program DePaul cosponsors an annual CEO conference. Having cooperating participants from more than 150  campuses CEO encourages networking with successful entrepreneurs and an increased focus on innovative entrepreneurship strategies.
 


Professional Affiliations. DePaul Entrepreneurship Program is associated with professional organizations like United States Small Business Association (USASBE) and International Council of Small Business (ICSB), Academy of Management Entrepreneurship Division, Family Firm Institute (FFI), Marketing Entrepreneurship Interface, Entrepreneurship Research Consortium (ERC), Council of Entrepreneurship Awareness Education (CEAE). DePaul University is fully accredited by AACSB. The Entrepreneurship Program closely cooperates and receives support from the Coleman Foundation.
 

Local and community organizations. In close cooperation with organizations like National  Housing Service (NHS), Humboldt Park Development Council, and Egan Urban Center the Entrepreneurship Program faculty and students are working on various economic development in Chicago poor neighborhoods where they are conducting research, providing entrepreneurship training and consulting by establishing small businesses in local communities in West Humboldt Park, North Avenue- Pulaski and other areas.

 

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