Business owners from across Middle Tennessee are scheduled to speak at MTSU this week as the university hosts National Entrepreneurship Week.
"We hope to extend the concept of owning your own business out to other majors," said Rachel Wilson, an MTSU entrepreneurship professor involved in organizing the event.
NEW will begin today at 9:10 a.m. with a lecture by Jenny Piper, owner of Pied Piper Creamery in Nashville, as she presents a speech entitled "Building a Business by Doing What You Love." Free ice cream will be offered before the speech, which will take place in the Business and Aerospace Building room S130A.
Following the speech by Piper, Kevin Guenther, president and CEO of Design Resource, and Patrick Geho, an MTSU business professor, will give speeches.
Monday is scheduled to end with a lecture by Mike Berkley, owner of Growild, Inc. Growild is a Fairview-based business specializing in the wholesale of native plants.
Three speakers are scheduled to give lectures Tuesday: Beth Chase, Lorenzo Spikes and Jim Gilmore.
Beth Chase, president and CEO of C3 Consulting, is scheduled to speak in BAS room S324 at 9:40 a.m. with her speech, "An Entrepreneur's Story: From Tennis to C3." C3 Consulting is a Nashville-based consulting firm aimed at leadership opportunities for companies going through growth or change.
Following Chase, Lorenzo Spikes, CEO of Eclipse Artist Management Group, LLC, is scheduled to speak about entrepreneurship and the music industry at 1 p.m. Eclipse Artist Management Group is an artist-management firm based in Jacksonville, Fla., with a second location in Murfreesboro.
At 2:40 p.m., Jim Gilmore, partner of Audio Productions, is scheduled to deliver his presentation, "Diversity vs. Downturn." Audio Productions is a Nashville-based audio production company.
The event will be condensed, primarily into three days, in order to accommodate the schedules of students wishing to attend the lectures, Wilson said.
The week will conclude Friday with three speakers in BAS S102. Robert A. Frist Jr., co-founder, CEO, president and chairman of the board of HeathStream, Inc., is scheduled to deliver his lecture, "Stories and Lessons Learned from the Nashville Internet Boom," at 1 p.m., followed by a 30-minute question and answer session. Frist is the nephew of former U.S. Sen., Bill Frist.
At 2:45, Benjamin and Max Goldberg, co-owners of Strategic Hospitality, Inc., based in Nashville will give a lecture entitled "A Lot of Fun and a Lot of Luck." Some of the venues the two brothers own are Paradise Park and City Hall, also located in Nashville. A period set aside for questions is scheduled after the speech.
With NEW beginning today, some MTSU students said they are looking forward to seeing the guest speakers.
"I think it's going to be good to have business leaders from the community come to MTSU and speak to the future business leaders," said Dedrick Mitchell, a senior accounting major student.
Wilson said MTSU currently has 198 entrepreneurship majors, as well as 68 minors.
"[Entrepreneurship is] totally not a field that is just for business-minded people," Wilson said.
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