Fox School of Business and Management students had a chance to improve their entrepreneurship skills at the Second Annual Entrepreneurship Day organized by the Entrepreneurial Students Association.
On Wednesday, Temple students discussed their business ideas with entrepreneurship experts from the Philadelphia area, explore different possibilities in terms of internships and future jobs and learn what the real world of business is like from a professional entrepreneur.
The day was divided into two parts. From 2 p.m. until 4:30 p.m., students took advantage of entrepreneur advising that was held in the Innovation Lab at the Fox School of Business.
Everyone had a chance to pre-register online or in person with ESA. The announcements were displayed throughout the Fox School prior to the event.
Students brought their business ideas to receive consultation from Philadelphia area professional entrepreneurs. University alumni and successful businessman Jules Seshens and Irv Safra, a member of the Entrepreneur Forum of Greater Philadelphia and representatives of Temple Small Business Development Center made themselves available to students to discuss their ideas.
The Fox School’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute helped ESA to organize the event and made their lab available for the consultation section. Chris Pavlides, the executive director of IEI, said the event was a success. He also expressed his support for ESA and projected future growth of the organization.
“The objective is to double membership by next year,” Pavlides said. “We welcome students from other schools as Fox School of Business students to join ESA.”
Later in the day students joined ESA officers in the Speakman Hall student lounge for an internship/business fair. Representatives from a few organizations had information about internships and job availabilities. The Pennsylvania Minority Business Development Center and the Small Business Development Center participated in the fair as well.
Later, Kimberle Levin, president and CEO of Teknuko Technologies, shared her entrepreneur experiences with the audience of ESA officers and students from different business school departments.
In her presentation, Levin gave the students a sense of what the real business world is like, shared the hardships that she has faced as a professional entrepreneur, and gave advice to future entrepreneurs. Levin encouraged students to “go out and make it happen,” and said that “dreams should not be taken to heaven.”
Some listeners discussed their business plans with her after the presentation and asked further questions about her experiences.
Aksh Haribhakti, a freshman finance major, said he had a great experience at the fair.
“I met a couple people and joined ESA today,” Haribhakti said. He also enjoyed Levin’s presentation.
“I liked how she included her personal experiences in her presentation and answered our questions instead of just speaking,” he said.
This year’s event was the second of its kind organized by ESA. Phoenicia Williams, president of ESA, said that the event has been very successful in comparison with last year’s, when only five students and four officers attended.
ESA is a growing organization at Temple that focuses on entrepreneurship and free enterprise. All Entrepreneurship majors are required to enroll in the association. Forty-two members are currently participating in ESA’s activities.
The organization helps students to connect with entrepreneurship world outside Temple and provides internship opportunities, co-ops and expert advising.
Presentation and business consultations are made available to students through activities such as the Entrepreneurship Day, organized annually.
Natalya Bucuy can be contacted at mordukh@temple.edu.
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