Diversifying Options How today's campuses are paving the way for minority entrepreneurship

If colleges are at the forefront of entrepreneurial innovation,they are also the places where minority entrepreneurship is gettingsome serious attention. Aimed at tackling the issues faced bytoday's minority entrepreneurial students, these programs arestarting to crop up at universities across the nation."It's really grown out of a need to presententrepreneurship [from] a more diverse perspective," saysStephen Spinelli, vice provost for entrepreneurship at BabsonCollege in Babson Park, Massachusetts.

Babson College, for one, has teamed up with Ford Motor Co. andHistorically Black Colleges and Universities to create a curriculumand seminar series that educates black entrepreneurial students onhow to start businesses. Spinelli noticed black business leaderslacked representation in the case studies taught at Babson, so heand his colleagues began creating a case-study library featuringsuccessful black entrepreneurs.

Since late 2004, the school has incorporated the case studiesalong with seminars dealing with minority-business issues into itsentrepreneurship classes. Entrepreneurial speakers are especiallyinspirational. "The [entrepreneurs'] frankness has beennearly overwhelming; they don't hide their experiences,"says Spinelli. "[They've] overcome some barriers that anumber of students didn't recognize existed." And oncethey complete a full case-study library, he hopes to get theprogram into more colleges and universities. For details, check outwww.babson.edu/eship.