The Entrepreneurship Network, a newly formed campus academic organization, focuses on helping students share and develop their ideas, promoting a spirit of entrepreneurship in the student body.
E-NET is intended to complement the new entrepreneurship concentration in the business administration major by building connections and promoting the dissemination of ideas. Meetings provide members with an opportunity to talk to like-minded individuals about their ideas and to learn about what other members are working on.
Micah Morrell, a junior majoring in business administration and the vice president of the organization, said a number of current members are students from other majors learning how to market their skills effectively.
Several of the members run successful businesses, which range from event photography to storage solutions for students, and are eager to help others figure out how to start their own businesses and to hear new ideas regarding their ventures. “As a college student, you probably have the best opportunity to start a business compared to any other time in your life,” Morrell said. “Once you’re out of college, chances are you might be married…and have a full-time job and even more debt. So that’s why we’re really encouraging and pushing starting a business in college.”
The format of each meeting varies, allowing officers flexibility when preparing for the next meeting. “Because we’re not a class . . . we’re able to have a lot more participation and a lot more conversation throughout the meetings,” Morrell said. Recent meetings have featured members, including Morrell, presenting their own successful ventures.
Jonathan Valadez, a senior and the president of E-NET, believes entrepreneurship has broad applicability for all students, regardless of future goals or current major. “Entrepreneurship is much more than just starting a venture or business,” Valadez said. “Entrepreneurship is the idea of being comfortable with risk-taking and looking beyond the current set of facts, beyond the current set of information, circumstances and resources and believing that you can.”
Although E-NET is a part of the University Business Association, the organization welcomes students from any major to join. According to Valadez, who is double majoring in international studies and biblical studies, the idea behind the network had existed for a few years but only became an official organization in the fall of 2020. Because E-NET is a young organization, many of the details regarding its operation have not been fully worked out. Valadez said currently the officer roles lack concrete definitions, which means the officers tend to help wherever they are able.
Additionally, meetings are not on a fixed schedule yet but usually happen every two to three weeks. Meetings are announced through the organization’s Instagram account, @e_net.bju, or through their email list. The next meeting, which is scheduled for March 25, will be a panel discussion featuring local business owners and alumni.
Currently, E-NET has 15 members, but officers are hoping to build on that number and grow. Reagan Riddell, a sophomore majoring in business administration and the vice president of marketing for E-NET, said most of the promotion for the group has come from their Instagram and word of mouth from their members.
E-NET encourages students interested in joining to attend a meeting or email Gracen Erwine, the vice president of administration, at [email protected] to be added to the email list.
