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Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour Hosted by Northwood University

Published on 11/6/2009 10:43:08 AM
Northwood University will host The Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour (EET) on November 19.

MIDLAND, MI – The power of the entrepreneurial spirit will take mid-Michigan by storm on November 19, 2009, when Northwood University hosts The Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour (EET). Students and budding entrepreneurs are invited to the event which is free of charge. The event will be held in the Sloan Family Building for Aftermarket Studies located at 4000 Whiting Drive at 3:00 p.m. with speakers and programs continuing until 7:00 p.m. Complete details can be accessed at www.extremetour.org.

With state unemployment at a record high and job prospects grim, more and more college students are thinking about starting their own business. "Colleges are looking for new ways to generate creative and innovative businesses that create jobs, says Georgia A. Abbott, MBA, director of the Alden B. Dow Center for Creativity and Enterprise at Northwood University, host of the EET on the Northwood Campus. "Bringing the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour to Northwood University is an out-of-the-box strategy that taps a largely overlooked resource–the creativity and energy of our young people."

"Our parents worked for big companies but our students are living in a different business environment," says Jim Hop, professor and chair of Northwood's Entrepreneurship department. "My most recent classroom discussions center on students starting up their own companies, controlling their own destiny and controlling the process. When you work to create value for something you own, how cool is that?"

The Tour helps students take the next step by offering inspiration and practical advice about how to start a business. The Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour is run by three award-winning young entrepreneurs–Sheena Lindahl (age 26), Michael Simmons (age 27) and Arel Moodie (age 25). Created in 2006 by Lindahl and Simmons, the Tour features top young entrepreneurs who've made, earned or sold companies for millions of dollars and/or made a huge impact before the age of 30. The Tour spotlights young entrepreneurs such as Cameron Johnson (age 24) who started a dozen profitable businesses and became a self-made millionaire while he was still a teenager. Another speaker, Rahim Fazal (age 27), sold his first business for $1.5 million as he was graduating from high school. Fazal is the co-founder and CEO of the venture-backed company, Involver.

"More than half the companies on the 2009 Fortune 500 list were launched during a recession or bear market," says Simmons. "Technology and globalization have made it very inexpensive to start a business. Now is the best time that there has ever been to become your own boss."

According to a 2007 Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation survey by Harris Interactive, four out of ten young people would like to start their own businesses someday. "However, when we talked with students, we realized that many of them needed inspiration and support to achieve this dream," says Lindahl. "That's why we started the Tour."

The goal of the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour is to have college students around the nation graduate with an entrepreneurial mindset.

For the first time, students who attend the Tour events will be asked to take a pledge to create their own jobs by the end of 2009. Using social media, tour attendees, speakers and staff will be able to ask questions, post updates on their businesses and post comments about the tour on Twitter in real time. The goal is to get 10,000 new pledges by the end of the year.

Both emerging entrepreneurs and students from all disciplines are invited to attend the Northwood University event to learn how they can apply the entrepreneurial mindset to their lives regardless of their choice of careers. Since the tour was created in 2006, it has presented 100 events in 30 states, reaching 100,000 students across the country.

ABOUT NORTHWOOD UNIVERSITY

Northwood University is committed to the most personal attention to prepare students for success in their careers and in their communities; it promotes critical thinking skills and personal effectiveness, and the importance of ethics, individual freedom and responsibility.

Private, nonprofit and accredited, Northwood University specializes in managerial and entrepreneurial education at three full-service, residential campuses located in southern Florida, mid-Michigan and northern Texas. Adult Degree Programs are available in eight states with many course delivery options including online. The DeVos Graduate School offers full-time, evening and industry specific master's degree programs for entrepreneurs and executives in Michigan, Texas and Switzerland. The Alden B. Dow Center for Creativity and Enterprise on the Midland, Michigan Campus specializes in creative thinking and innovation development. International education is offered through terms abroad and in Program Centers in Switzerland, China, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Bahrain. Northwood University also operates the Margaret Chase Smith Library in Maine.

50 YEARS OF ENTERPRISE AND ETHICS

Northwood University is marking its 50-year anniversary. Founded in 1959, Northwood has grown to a national and international presence and is an influential advocate for free enterprise. Celebrations are planned across the country and around the world to commemorate the vision and success of Northwood University's founders, Drs. R. Gary Stauffer and Arthur Turner.