The Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) has announced the preliminary top 25 nominating schools with the most students in contention for the prestigious award. With nine nominees, Belmont University claims a spot in the list among such schools as Yale, Harvard, Stanford and Purdue University.
GSEA, an Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) program, is the world’s premiere award for undergraduate students who own and run businesses while attending a college or university. Annually, student entrepreneurs from more than 340 universities and colleges worldwide receive nominations. From the approximately 1,500 nominations, 30 finalists will compete for the top prize at the 2009 GSEA Global Finals Competition at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Mo., Nov. 18-20.
Nominees from Belmont competed at the International meeting of Delta Epsilon Chi in 2009. This is the second consecutive year Belmont took first place in the Business Plan Competition and first and second place in the Entrepreneurial Challenge at this conference.
Belmont’s Dean of the College of Business Administration Dr. Patrick Raines said, “Entrepreneurship is a core competency in the College of Business curriculum. To have so many students nominated for the GSEA award is another indication that we are accomplishing our mission.”
The Center for Entrepreneurship at Belmont University offers a hands-on approach to help students hit the ground running. Student entrepreneurs are given opportunities to work in student-run retail spaces on campus or develop their own business ventures with the support of their professors. The innovative program has earned Belmont University recognition for being the 2008 National Model Program for entrepreneurship education by the United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) and a national Top 25 entrepreneurship program by Entrepreneur magazine and The Princeton Review.
Dr. Jeff Cornwall, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship, said, “I continue to be amazed by the entrepreneurial spirit of our students. We need this generation of entrepreneurs to help us revitalize our economy.”
