Every major offered at Oklahoma State University has merit and can prepare us for our prospective futures. One major that is relatively new to OSU is entrepreneurship. There is a growing trend nationwide to encourage entrepreneurship and the different perspectives that are emphasized in the curriculum.
As the global economy is continuing to grow, national economic growth has been most closely tied to entrepreneurial growth. Studies have shown that small businesses are multiplying and spreading throughout different markets, creating new and numerous job opportunities, which is helping to offset the unemployment rates. According to a recent Forbes study, "young firms account for roughly two-thirds of job creation, averaging nearly four new jobs per firm per year… Without startups, net job creation for the American economy would be negative in all but a handful of years. If one excludes startups, an analysis of the 2007 Census data shows that young firms (defined as one to five years old) still account for roughly two-thirds of job creation.”
Although a lot of this stuff sounds like some grownup mumbo jumbo about the economy, think of it more like this: more of us are graduating from college with degrees in various professions, and there are a limited number of established businesses throughout the country through which to find employment. And so, the next best thing is to go to work for a startup business, or a new firm with opportunities, inorder to gain experience.
The entrepreneurship program puts an emphasis on thinking outside of the box. Personally, I am pursuing a minor in entrepreneurship because I want to expand my resume and show to my future employers that I am multifaceted.
A friend of mine, Becca Haesloop, is double majoring in marketing and entrepreneurship. "Entrepreneurship brings in a different mindset to students to look at their work environments and their surroundings," she said. "To help them to be able to actually see what factors, people and abilities make a company run correctly and efficiently. It combines marketing, management, economics and many other business aspects into one to create the best possible scenario you can to know how to create your own business successfully."
The entrepreneurship program is different from many others because of the different mindset and perspective on the process of learning. Many of the professors are more inclined to have personal relationships with their students. After one class I took, the entire class went out with the professors and guest speakers from that week to have pizza and beer, courtesy of the professor.
“Craig Watters is the reason why I decided to double major in marketing and entrepreneurship because of his love of the subject and his teaching style makes it easy for anyone to understand the structure of entrepreneurship," Haesloop said. "By majoring and taking entrepreneurship classes, you really learn how to exploit any and all resources to make your life and work environment as successful as it can be”.
I encourage everyone to look into the entrepreneurship program, because it is not likely to lose momentum in the near future. It can't hurt to be better prepared for our futures in the workforce.
