Though Skidmore is known to foster post-grad entrepreneurs, it could use more undergraduate support and opportunities for business endeavors. The Entrepreneurship Club aims to be a new opportunity to stimulate this creative and constructive business spirit.
The club will also have an educational aspect to it, examining effective companies and how they got their success. Jin said, “Learning about entrepreneurship is important, especially at this stage in life. Once you go out into society, you don’t know what to do, but you are better acquainted when you learn more about entrepreneurship.” The club, and entrepreneurship itself, is incredibly interdisciplinary. The club aims to prepare students for life after college, thus it is open to anyone, not only business majors.
Business major Noam Kahn ’18 and Computer Science major Seunghwan Jin ’17 believe the club will appeal to many students. Kahn said, “Anyone has the potential to be an entrepreneur. Everyone has amazing ideas; it is just about enacting them. We will help also by giving them feedback and letting them know what is possible and what is not.”
Besides being a new co-president of this club, Kahn is also the treasurer for Peace Action club, the photographer for DJ club, and participates in Ultimate Frisbee and Hillel on campus. This past summer, he worked at a start-up, which helped new companies get going. He plans to continue in this field post-grad. Jin, along with his computer science major, is minoring in Business and English. He has also been the historian of the Chinese Culture club and a member of Asian Cultural Awareness. He is also currently creating an app. The two co-presidents play on each other’s strengths, as a dynamic duo for entrepreneurship with Kahn as the business side and Jin in the technological, software engineering side of things.
The club’s goal is to inspire innovation by initiating students to further formulate their business ideas in real time. A key aspect of the club is having groups, perhaps groups of four, developing creative business plans throughout the academic year, incentivized with a mini competition of which plan is best.
The club will also be working towards the Kenneth A. Freirich Business Plan Competition, hosted by Skidmore alumni in the spring semester, with up to $60,000 in prizes. Noam Kahn, the new club’s co-president, got third place in this competition in Spring 2016.
Kahn and Jin also emphasize the importance and inevitability of failure in entrepreneurship. Jin said, “Failure is a stepping stone to success. Being able to talk about why you failed and what you would have done differently is a good way to avoid making the same mistakes again. When you fail you get the notion that you can fall and that you won’t always be successful. That awakened moment is important in life; it helps you build a healthier and stronger mentality, while also, with the basis of failure, you know what to do and not do next.”
The Entrepreneurship Club is still in the process of initiation but is looking forward to getting started. They plan to bring in speakers from town businesses and provide resources, mentoring, and collaboration opportunities to aspiring entrepreneurs.
Meeting times are not yet established, but if you are interested in joining this club, feel free to email Noam Kahn (nkahn@skidmore.edu) or Seunghwan Jin (sjin@skidmore.edu) for more information.