HomeOn November 17th, 2008, countries and cities worldwide engaged in the first ever Global Entrepreneurship Week. At Drexel University, one of the most active schools in the nation, a tremendous week of events was simply starting.
The week began with a concept pitch competition, alongside a presentation by Dr. Alwan, an expert in the emerging aging baby boomers market. The competition highlighted student ideas for potential products and services that could be developed to enable aging baby boomers to stay independent.
The week continued on Tuesday, with the student entrepreneur clubs, the undergrad Drexel Entrepreneur Association and the graduate Entrepreneurship Club, hosting a breakfast event with the College of Engineering, inviting out representatives from LeBow College of Business, Baiada Center for Entrepreneurship, the Philadelphia business community, and the student community. With the topic of Open Innovation, the event explored how companies and entrepreneurs could leverage their community members and other companies to develop services and goods to fill a need. Once such service discussed was that provided by a local startup DropCard, currently led by Drexel alum Paul DeJoe, also a member of OmPay, the company most notably known for Philadelphia’s “SmartCard”. Dropcard allows people to create virtual business cards online, and send them via email to people by simply texting the email address to 41411.
Wednesday marked the 10 year anniversary of the School of Biomedical Engineering, which has been exceptionally involved in the entrepreneurial community with the development of numerous patents. The day consisted of a poster exposition, gala event, and more.
Wednesday evening was one of the week’s most heavily attended events, hosted by the Drexel Entrepreneur Association and LeBow Career Services. The “Being Your Own Boss” event saw more than 100 students attending, with four panelists who started their companies during or directly out of college. Mike Englisch, founder of Helix Drinks, spoke on his motivation and inspiration behind starting an energy drink company focused on powdered drinks, and noted the sacrifices necessary to achieve the success he now has.
Thursday evening marked another Drexel first, as the DEA and LeBow College Relations held an academic focused event focusing on Leadership and Entrepreneurship. With two faculty members from the LeBow Management Dept, the event explored the similarities and differences between entrepreneurs and leaders.
All in all, the week was a tremendous success, highlighting University wide collaboration and entrepreneurial excellence at Drexel University.
