Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/201447
T he Great Recession may have had nearcatastrophic effects on the global economy, but it has been a big boon to at least one corner of business: entrepreneurship. Although the rate of new business creation is still below pre-2008 levels, the Millennial Generation's interest in launching new business ideas is incredibly high. Fifty-four percent of young people born after 1980 are either interested in starting their own businesses or already have, according to the Kauffman Foundation, a nonprofit in Kansas City, Missouri, that promotes entrepreneurship and innovation. But universities are also realizing that entrepreneurship isn't just about creating businesses, says Jeff Skinner, director of the Deloitte Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the London Business School in the United Kingdom. "We realize that not every student is going to start a business—and we don't want them to. Otherwise, we'll have thousands of founders out there and no teams. We also want to prepare students to assist other people's ventures. I much prefer to say that we're creating 'entrepreneurial thinkers,' not just 'entrepreneurs.'" This new attitude about entrepreneurial activity has led business schools to dramatically broaden the missions of their entrepreneurship centers. No longer limited to serving business students and startups, these centers are adopting new strategic roles that reach far beyond the business school to create courses, develop programs, and establish vibrant entrepreneurial cultures that span the entire university. 22 November/December 2013 BizEd WESTUDENTS WANT OUR TO DO MORE THAN JUST POINT OUT PROBLEMS THEY SEE AND ASK SOMEONE ELSE TO SOLVE THEM. WE WANT THEM TO PROPOSE AND IMPLEMENT SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS THEY SEE IN THEIR COMMUNITIES, WHETHER BY STARTING NEW COMPANIES, WORKING IN EXISTING COMPANIES, IMPLEMENTING IDEAS, OR EVEN PROPOSING NEW LAWS. The Great Expansion Part of creating entrepreneurial thinkers is designing programs that expose students to entrepreneurship in different ways, says Skinner. With that in mind, the Deloitte Institute is now working with Deloitte's Social Pioneers Program, through which the firm provides support services to 20 social enterprises each year. In a pilot program, students will offer additional consultancy services to these enterprises. "Even if they don't have their own ideas to develop, our students can experience what it's like to manage entrepreneurial businesses," says Skinner. "Becoming a founder isn't the only way to get into entrepreneurship." In fact, for more entrepreneurship centers, the goal is to teach students to launch ideas, not just businesses, says Janet Strimaitis, director of the Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. That change in mindset is still relatively new. Babson has long integrated entrepreneurship throughout its curriculum, but prior to 2009 the Blank Center focused its attention mainly on offering services to a narrow group of high-potential entrepreneurs. Four years ago, however, the center adopted a new approach it calls "Entrepreneurship of All Kinds." It now offers more workshops, office space, and advising opportunities through its Butler Venture Accelerator Program to a wider range of students and alumni. Since 2009, the number of students and alumni that Babson's accelerator serves at one time has increased from 20 to more than 400. "We assess ourselves not on the number of high-potential ventures created, but on the skills and competencies our students learn in the classroom and in co-curricular activities," says Strimaitis. A similar change in approach is happening on an even larger scale at Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM) in Mexico City, Mexico. Like Babson, ITESM has long required all of its approximately 12,000 students to take an entrepreneurship course, regardless of major. But the school