Hidden Gems of this Country: Entrepreneurs
College has been a cornerstone of the American Dream for decades. However, increasing tuition has made it more and more difficult for many who always thought they would define themselves through collegiate participation to make the dream a reality.
Now you may wonder, what about those who knew early on that college was never their path? What about those who had the drive and the ideas to work for themselves but didn't have the know-how to get it done, or the resources? Or even the students who want to go, but simply can't afford the education, yet have the ambition to start their own business. The early entrepreneur.
Old Dominion University recognizes those students and is consciously moving in a direction to help them graduate with a degree to go into business for THEMSELVES if that is the path they are dedicated to following. ODU has resources like the Strome Entrepreneurial Center, an entrepreneurial certificate available through the Strome College of Business open to all students across campus, and now they are partnering with Marsha Hudgins of Hudgins Contracting to start the Hudgins Transitional Lab. This lab will find and help the entrepreneurs in low income communities that would otherwise be overlooked. "Entrepreneurship isn't solely about academic excellence. It encompasses many things: creativity, the ability to see big, the ability to believe in yourself. The last of those are the trickiest, because if you aren't in an environment where you're encouraged to believe in yourself, you won't," explains Hudgins.
The Hudgins Lab will guide entrepreneurs from the very beginning of the planning process to the execution level. Students who have the ideas and work ethic will be offered the lab's numerous resources supporting the development of entrepreneurship and will be taught how to logistically map out a business plan, how to get funding, and hopefully see their ideas come to fruition. The lab plans to offer training, encouragement, hope and guidance- each of which are essential supplies on the path to success.
Hudgins hopes to level the playing field and believes that providing these resources that would otherwise be unavailable, in partnership with the local community leaders, will be the formula needed to find and refine these "hidden gems". Actively developing entrepreneurial students will help their local communities thrive, and thriving communities ultimately make for a thriving economy.
Hudgins put its perfectly, "I've been surrounded by entrepreneurs my whole life, and I know they don't have to be Harvard MBA students. We only choose the obvious to invest in and that's a mistake. If we really want to be the strongest economy in the world, we will give opportunities to those that really make it run, and that is the entrepreneurs, wherever they may be."
