October 13, 1999
Contact: Jeffron Boynes
(312) 413-8702 [email protected]
COLLEGIANS CAPITALIZE ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
More than 800 students from across North America will meet in Chicago for the third annual Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO!) conference Oct. 22-24.
A record number of people - including educators, business leaders and student entrepreneurs from 125 colleges and universities - will gather at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place to discuss strategies to successfully launch new businesses.
Studies show that between 60 and 75 percent of all college students want to someday own and operate their own companies, according to Gerald E. Hills, director of the UIC Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies and CEO! founder. Nearly all new employment growth over the past 10 years has come from entrepreneurs, not Fortune 500 companies. As a result, some universities are redesigning traditional business curricula to cultivate this next generation of students.
"CEO! taps into a new wave of formal business training that encourages student involvement in entrepreneurial activities," says Hills. "This conference will cater to emerging student entrepreneurs, and provide the knowledge, resources and support needed to take charge of managing their own businesses."
The conference is expected to draw some of the nation's top entrepreneurs, including William Porter, founder, E-TRADE Group, Inc.; Rhonda Kallman, founder, Boston Beer Co.; and Michael Krasny, founder and CEO, CDW Computer Centers. Bob Galvin, former CEO of Motorola, will attend the conference.
Hosted by the University of Illinois at Chicago, "Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunity in the New Millennium" will focus on such topics as: Bootstrap Financing, Crafting a Business Plan, Entrepreneurship and Technology, Recognizing Opportunities, and Accounting and Legal Issues.
The conference will feature empowerment workshops for students and one-on-one coaching sessions with conference speakers. It will include an array of entrepreneurial exhibits from universities and CEO! chapters across the country.
Another workshop, for faculty and faculty advisers, will cover entrepreneurship teaching and advising. The CEO! Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame Awards will be presented Oct. 23.
The conference is underwritten by The Coleman Foundation, Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, the University of Illinois at Chicago, John and Jeanne Hughes Foundation, Cornell University and Genesis, Inc.
CEO! is a national network of entrepreneurship students founded at UIC's Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies. The institute, ranked in the top 10 in the nation, was among the first entrepreneurial studies programs in the country.
With 25,000 students, the University of Illinois at Chicago is the largest and most diverse university in the Chicago area. UIC is home to the largest medical school in the United States and is one of the 88 leading research universities in the country. Located just west of Chicago's Loop, UIC is a vital part of the educational, technological and cultural fabric of the area.
For more information on the conference schedule, contact CEO! headquarters at (312) 996-2608 or consult the Web site at http://www.c-e-o.org
- UIC -
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