Entrepreneurs given internships with grant
By Jason Kosareff
Daily Forty-Niner
Students aspiring to be small-business
entrepreneurs will be able to gain real-life experience interning for a
start-up company, thanks to a $30,600 grant to the College of Business
Administration.
Each participating student will work in
a paid internship for the chief executive officer of a start-up company
while earning three units of college credit. Interns will work 20 hours
a week for 15 weeks, earning more than $9 an hour.
The competitive internship is open to students
of all academic disciplines who plan to start up their own small business
after college.
"The majority of students [who graduate
from CSULB] do not go on to work for big corporations," said project director
Eric Hansen, also a Cal State Long Beach associate professor of management
and human resources. "Almost no one does that."
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation grant
will be used to establish the Kauffman Internship Program, which will eventually
become self-supporting.
"We are very excited about launching this
program," said Mike Walker, dean of the CBA.
"We could not offer these opportunities
to our students without our partnership with the Kauffman Foundation."
Kauffman made his fortune in the pharmaceutical
business and was committed to the idea that this is a nation of small corporations,
Hansen said. He added that small-business entrepreneurship is not taught
enough in college business schools.
"The act of starting a business is a team
endeavor, and from the beginning students need to learn how to be team
players," Hansen said. The programís emphasis on teamwork appealed to the
Kauffman Foundation.
The internships will consist of two teams
of six persons working for two companies.
So far, Inside Outside Publishing and Turnkey
Schools America have signed on to take interns from the CBA. Inside Outside
Publishing is a Web-based publishing company and Turnkey Schools America
is a company that build schools, from start to finish in 15 months, compared
with the typical 40 months it takes most companies.
The grant money will pay some of the costs
of the internships.
Students often go on to work for companies
they intern for or become owners in the start-up operation, Hansen said.
"Students will gain real-world experience
and business contacts," he said.
"We are in the early stages of a wave of
entrepreneurship across the United States," Hansen said. Of the 500 Orange
County firms involved in the computer technology business, half were started
in the last three years, Hansen said.
"We view the program as a three-way win,"
said Tony Mendes, program director of the Kauffman Foundation.
"Students have a tremendous experience
and can test their skills, the university is provided with seed money to
start the program and develop relationships in the community, and the host
company gets great talent and help with its venture."
The internship program will use an instructional
support Web site to coordinate the students who will earn college credit
while interning. |
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