What can you do with a major or minor in Entrepreneurship? Absolutely Anything!

To Current and Prospective Students

According to Fortune Small Business Magazine (February 2007), 66% of individuals polled want to be their own boss and that entrepreneurship has become a national obsession. FSB indicates that the SBA projected the largest business birthrate of nearly 672,000 companies, with employees, being created in 2005. The article further states that “if the nation’s love affair with entrepreneurship continues, then we are in for a bright future...entrepreneurs are more likely to get involved in their communities through service on elected and appointed boards and other types of volunteer work...they also lead the nation in charitable donations..."

For people seeking traditional corporate careers in marketing, finance, or accounting, an entrepreneurship major or minor provides the solid grounding in understanding the entirety of a business’s functioning so that the person can contribute significantly more value to the entire operation than someone only versed in a specific corporate function. Moreover, a major in entrepreneurship provides a practical, hands-on orientation to the what’s, how’s and why’s of business operations.

At the Sawyer Business School, our entrepreneurship majors and minors learn that they can make a difference and that they develop the confidence and skill set to be able to accomplish anything they set their minds and hearts to doing. We teach that entrepreneurs take action. This perspective is invaluable to all job functions/organizations and can help prepare the student to lead in whatever their chosen endeavors may be. Our curriculum is structured in a manner where students have free electives that they may use to obtain a minor in disciplinary areas such as accounting, finance, management, marketing, etc.

The entrepreneurship major is designed to help students understand their own entrepreneurial mindset,  recognize opportunities, identify legal and financial mechanisms to create business ventures that can seize on these opportunities, and create business plans and have the opportunity to launch their venture in an experiential classroom setting.. In addition, we provide an internship where students must deal with the challenges of business start-ups. Through these courses students further build on their core skills/knowledge of marketing, finance, accounting, operations, and human resources management. By carefully selecting free elective courses, students can further develop their personal interests in marketing, accounting, finance, etc. Moreover, students can tailor their experiences to focus in starting new businesses, acquiring existing businesses, create opportunities within their current organization, or help to grow family businesses in various product and service industries.

Job opportunities for entrepreneurship majors and minors are limited only by your personal constraints and creativity!

1. Start your own business.
2. Create new opportunities within an existing organization
3. Bring value to your family business.
4. Non-profits (these organizations are becoming increasingly professionalized and need  generalists to help guide them toward mission accomplishment)
5. Anything that requires a positive attitude, leadership skills, persistence, problem solving, creativity, and a holistic view an organization’s activities...in short—anything!

George Moker,
Director of Entrepreneurship Programs
gmoker@suffolk.edu