MODEL ENTREPRENEURSHIP SCHOLARS PROGRAM GOES PUBLIC

Kansas City, MO., October 19, 2011 – The Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (IEI) at the Henry W. Bloch School of Management has announced that the recently launched Entrepreneurship Scholars (E-Scholars) program is now open to the general public.

In addition to UMKC students across the campus and disciplines, anyone from the community or region may apply for the program.

The E-Scholars Program is a 12-month certificate program designed to prepare promising entrepreneurs with the skills and knowledge needed to launch scalable, sustainable ventures upon graduation from the program. 

The program launched in 2010, graduating an inaugural class of 32 in spring of 2011 whose members have thus far launched 25 companies. The second class, with 50-plus students, is currently underway.

“The program is ideal for anyone who has a fledgling company ready to achieve greater levels of success or for someone who has a business idea and needs help turning that idea into a sustainable venture,” said Michael Song, executive director of the Institute.  “We’re looking for anyone with the desire, drive, and commitment to become a successful entrepreneur.”

Full program scholarships are available to qualified applicants.

If accepted, applicants will participate in an intensive program in which they learn how to originate and evaluate venture ideas, plan and launch their businesses, and manage them for growth. They will work closely with mentors - more than 100 successful entrepreneurs and business people from the Kansas City community - who work one-on-one with program participants, and take classes with entrepreneurship faculty at the Bloch School, including two of the top five innovation management scholars in the world.

“The ultimate goal of the program is to accelerate the formation of sustainable, scalable ventures, creating significant impact with ventures that will have higher success rates—businesses that will achieve more than fifty thousand dollars in revenue in their first year and more than one million dollars in revenue within five years,” noted Song.

Song says that helping entrepreneurs succeed through model programs at UMKC is one way to help Kansas City meet its goal to become the most entrepreneurial city in the world, one of the ideas stated in the Greater Kansas City of Chamber’s Big 5 initiative.

“From an educational standpoint, the E-Scholars program is revolutionary, setting a global standard for entrepreneurship education,” Song added.

In addition to the EScholars program, The Bloch school is making its presence known as a place where entrepreneurship goes beyond theory and class concepts. In 2010, the IEI was honored with two awards for Outstanding Contributions to Enterprise Creation and Exceptional Activities in Entrepreneurship Across Disciplines by the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers. 

This September, both the graduate and undergraduate entrepreneurship degree programs were ranked among the top 25 in the nation by The Princeton Review, making the Bloch School one of only eleven U.S. institutions so honored.

To apply to the entrepreneurship scholars program click here.

The Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the UMKC Bloch School inspires and nurtures future generations of entrepreneurs, and delivers transformational entrepreneurship education and experiences university-wide.

The Henry W. Bloch School of Management develops purposeful, entrepreneurial and innovative leaders to meet changing global demands, and advances knowledge and practice through excellent teaching, scholarship, outreach and service.
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