Southeast Missouri State University Alumni Association

Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour Visiting Southeast During National Entrepreneurship Week

The Douglas C. Greene Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) at Southeast Missouri State University will launch National Entrepreneurship Week, Feb. 17-23, with a variety of activities for students, business and civic leaders as well as high school students.

National Entrepreneurship Week celebrates the heritage of entrepreneurial leadership in America and encourages support for the growth of entrepreneurship education as a life-long learning process. There will be structured events that will engage participants in various dimensions of entrepreneurship, including presentations by some of the nation's top young entrepreneurs with the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour and a keynote address by Clifton Taulbert, Pulitzer Prize nominee and author of the book "Who Owns the Ice House?” Events are planned on Thursday, Feb. 21, and Friday, Feb. 22.

Thursday, Feb. 21
Extreme Entrepreneurship
Glenn Auditorium, Dempster Hall 105, 2-4 p.m.

The country's most successful young entrepreneurs will deliver presentations, display exhibits, host workshops, and question-and-answer sessions as part of the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour – the first ever collegiate entrepreneur tour. The Tour was created in 2006 by two 20-somethings aiming to expose young people to entrepreneurship and inspire students to look at entrepreneurship as a viable career pathway. The Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour is organized by Empact [www.iempact.com], and has held more than 400 events across 35 states since 2006. The tour features several of the country's top young entrepreneurs who have built or sold successful companies for more than $1 million each before the age of 30.

"Creating a culture of entrepreneurship in our students is paramount to leading us out of the current economic downturn, and driving job growth, both now and for the future,” said Arel Moodie, partner at Empact. Empact's work focuses on# facilitating a culture of entrepreneurship in communities across the globe through exposure, celebration and early stage startup support#.

Friday, Feb. 22
Keynote address by Clifton Taulbert
University Center Ballroom, 11a.m.
Webinar, 1:30 p.m.

Best-selling, Pulitzer-Nominee Clifton L. Taulbert is the author of 13 books including "Who Owns the Ice House?” and "Eight Habits of the Heart.” In his writing, Taulbert focuses on the keys to community building and entrepreneurial thinking as assets in the contemporary workplace. Taulbert is the president and founder of the Building Community Institute headquartered in Tulsa, Okla. Through engaging and interactive workshops, executive forums and keynote conversation, he provides human capital development techniques and organizational capacity building skills. Taulbert has been honored by the Sales and Marketing Academy of Achievement and inducted into the United Air Force Airman's Hall of Fame. He has been recognized by the Library of Congress, the National Association of Colored People and Rotary International as a Paul Harris Fellow. Taulbert captivates audiences by painting a picture of his life growing up in the legally segregated Mississippi Delta and how a community of unselfish people around him taught leadership skills that helped him become the man he is today. He says these life lessons of hard work and responsibility show that "we should never underestimate the power of our influence on the life of others.”

"There is a growing movement of entrepreneurial people generating new ideas and seeking better ways of doing things in all sectors of our economy and society,” said Dr. James Stapleton, executive director of Southeast's Douglas C. Greene Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. "National Entrepreneurship Week is an excellent opportunity to celebrate the role of entrepreneurs and to reflect on the impact of entrepreneurship on our national and regional economy.” Stapleton encourages members of the community and students to attend the on-campus address at 11 a.m. in the University Center Ballroom and for high schools and community members unable to attend, to join the webinar at 1:30 p.m. For more information about National Entrepreneurship Week at Southeast or for webinar registration please visit www.semo.edu/new.

The Douglas C. Greene Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Southeast Missouri State University is one of the most comprehensive entrepreneurship-focused university centers in the Midwest, offering a wide array of academic and outreach programs and services, including: innovation development and research; entrepreneurship education, training and mentorship; and business incubation and development services. The CIE supports Southeast Missouri State University's strategic priority to accelerate entrepreneurial growth and development that improves the quality of lives, communities and businesses in southeast Missouri and the southeast region.

For more information about the CIE and the entrepreneurial support services it offers, contact (573) 651-2929 or visit www.semo.edu/cie.