Des Moines Business Record
07-28-07
A state for business builders
The second annual Okoboji Entrepreneurial Institute begins Aug. 5 at the
Lakeside Laboratory on the shore of West Lake Okoboji. Thirty-two college
students from Buena Vista University, Iowa Lakes Community College, the
University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa
will take classes designed to help them learn how to build businesses.
It's one piece of an admirable effort to encourage entrepreneurs in this state.
Venture capitalist John Pappajohn established five entrepreneurial centers in
1996, and they're developing an outstanding reputation. Both the University of
Iowa and Iowa State University have been ranked among the top 25
entrepreneurial universities by the editors of the Princeton Review.
At the Okoboji Entrepreneurial Institute, the young hopefuls will hear from an
eminent group of entrepreneurs, including Pappajohn, Marvin Pomerantz and Bill
Krause. These are people who truly know what it takes to build a business.
They're also people who have made this a better state by donating impressive
amounts of cash for worthy causes and facilities. But their efforts to teach or
inspire entrepreneurship could prove even more valuable in the long run.
We'll always need a reliable supply of workers who are dedicated to making
existing businesses thrive. Not everybody wants to be an entrepreneur. But
tapping into the ideas and energies of young people who are driven to try
something new is the best way to make progress.
The Okoboji program is a way to create links between colleges and make the
students more aware of opportunities around the state.
You don't have to be part of that project to influence Iowa entrepreneurship,
however. Central Iowa's business leaders will find plenty of occasions to brag
about what we have here. Colleges everywhere are ramping up their
entrepreneurship class offerings, so it's time to get the word out that Iowa's
schools already have a decade of solid experience.