The Associated Press featured Belmont University’s comprehensive business program in entrepreneurship in a story that’s being published by news outlets from Florida to Canada this week.
Here’s an excerpt:
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Kevin Alexandroni is studying to get a business degree at Belmont University, but his future isn’t in corporate finance – it’s in preparing kosher food for weddings.
Alexandroni, whose business, Sova Catering, pays his tuition, is part of a growing number of students across the nation who attend college to learn practical skills in launching and running a small business.
“Most business classes assume that you’ll work in corporate America,” said Alexandroni, 30, a former officer in the Israeli Defense Force. “But if you’re going to open your own business, a class in corporate financing isn’t relevant.”
Four years after he started a restaurant called “Le Courouge,” or “The Redneck,” an experiment in what he calls “French-Southern fusion,” Alexandroni realized he needed the entrepreneurial skills to match his cooking talents.
“Belmont’s program gives me bootstrapping tools and experience in the day-to-day things I need to survive,” he said.
Dr. Jeffrey R. Cornwall, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at Belmont, said the program’s emphasis reflects a fundamental change in the nation’s economy.
“In the last 20 years, there’s been a net job loss at Fortune 500 companies,” he said. “Yet we’ve had a significant increase in the number of jobs nationwide because most new jobs come from companies with less than 500 employees.”
Small businesses
