Encouraging Entrepreneurship

UW and community college students get hands-on entrepreneurial education and experiences.

The University of Wyoming helps entrepreneurs across the state with a host of offerings while also helping students learn to launch businesses. Programming includes an interdisciplinary entrepreneurship minor, an educational entrepreneurship competition and the Venture MBA.

Entrepreneurship Minor

The UW College of Business offers an entrepreneurship major and an interdisciplinary minor, which is open to all majors.

As part of the minor, students take three entrepreneurship courses within the College of Business. Those courses cover innovation, ideation, value proposition, and business-model creation and launch. That final course includes teams participating in the annual entrepreneurship competition.

John P. Ellbogen $50K Entrepreneurship Competition

This year, the annual Ellbogen $50K Competition celebrates its 25th year of encouraging college students across the state to act on their talents, ideas and energy to produce tomorrow’s leading businesses.

Teams often include students from UW and that state’s community colleges. As they compete for cash prizes, they also learn to create a business plan while receiving mentorship, business consulting expertise and a strong entrepreneurial network of investors and potential partners. In 2024, the competition added an entrepreneurial ecosystem fair, which will continue this year. The fair connects students with statewide resources and networking.

The 2024 grand prize went to FINA Custom Work, a Wyoming-based tactical gear company owned by UW student Ana Acevedo and her husband, veteran Jesus Acevedo. As a police officer, Jesus noticed that officers had nowhere to put the personal belongings of those they arrested in the field. Things were often lost or damaged. The Acevedos addressed this by creating a bag that quickly clips and unclips from the officer’s belt.

“We want to make law enforcement and military jobs a little bit easier,” says Jesus, who grew up in Yakima, Wash., before serving in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. “They already have stressful jobs, and the amount of things that they have to deal with is tremendous. We have two officers in the field now doing field testing with the bags. I get calls from law enforcement officers who want to know when these will be on the market.”

The Acevedos are using the competition money to launch a website, to ramp up their production and to expand into military products. During the competition, they found feedback from teachers, judges and local businesspeople invaluable.

“We really learned a lot about taking our vision and turning it into a viable business,” says Ana, who grew up in Laramie and graduated this December with her degree in marketing and sales. “It teaches you how to get a business going from the bottom up.”

Everyone was willing to help, even other business owners in similar industries.

“Lean on other people’s strengths and knowledge,” Ana says to those considering starting a business. “Wyoming has created a very supportive entrepreneurial culture.”

Hannah McLean-Leonard, UW Venture Mentoring Service program manager and program coordinator for the Venture MBA and John P. Ellbogen $50K Competition, says that the College of Business is continuously striving to create opportunities — not only for business students but for students from across UW and the state of Wyoming. “While the John P. Ellbogen $50K Competition serves current students from UW and community colleges, our newly launched Venture Mentoring Service is available to anyone affiliated with UW or a community college in the state. This includes students, faculty and alumni. I feel incredibly proud to be involved in so many fantastic entrepreneurial-based initiatives.”

 

Venture MBA

For aspiring entrepreneurs, the College of Business launched a Venture MBA track in 2023. It’s aimed at students who want to launch or join a startup, to work for innovative companies with high-growth ambitions, or enter in the venture capital sector, explains Senior Assistant Dean Benjamin Cook.

“The Venture track has additional entry requirements, higher program expectations, mentoring for venture ideas, masterclasses with successful entrepreneurs and several co-curricular activities such as domestic and international travel to explore other entrepreneurial ecosystems and develop a global mindset,” he says. “Rather than take electives, Venture MBA students take three courses that help them generate ideas and advance them into real businesses, help them understand the fundraising process and how to get investors, and best practices for existing companies to innovate and stay on the cutting edge.”

Venture MBA students also participate in internships with Wyoming companies.

“The Venture MBA program is designed to inspire and equip students with an entrepreneurial and innovative mindset, fostering a ‘can-do’ attitude that encourages them to remain in Wyoming,” says Assistant Professor of Practice Quique Girones. “By nurturing these entrepreneurial and innovative thinking processes, we aim to retain talent and contribute to the growth and dynamism of Wyoming’s business ecosystem. Whether launching new ventures, driving innovation in established companies or supporting startups through venture capital, the Venture MBA program is committed to providing the skills and mindset necessary for success.”

The program grew out of state initiatives, including Economically Needed Diversity Options for Wyoming (ENDOW) and the Wyoming Innovation Partnership (WIP). The positive impact of students on the state begins well before graduation.

“Venture MBA students are actively engaged in various impactful projects and partnerships that are shaping the future of business and innovation,” Girones says. “One significant area of focus is the development of business feasibility plans for scientific and engineering ideas. By collaborating with companies and research institutes, students assess the business viability and customer demand, ensuring these ideas can be successfully brought to market.”

The students work closely with venture capital firms to conduct due diligence. They also partner with the state’s Manufacturing Works program — which assists manufacturers — to enhance its communication platform.

“These projects provide students with invaluable hands-on experience and contribute significantly to the local and regional business landscapes,” Girones says. “Through these efforts, Venture MBA students are making a meaningful impact on the community and beyond.”

Entrepreneurship Faculty Fellows

Supported by the Wyoming Innovation Partnership (WIP) and UW’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, a new cohort of Entrepreneurship Faculty Fellows launched this year. The fellows include six UW faculty and nine Wyoming community college faculty.

The fellows started off getting to know the state’s entrepreneurial programs, including the Small Business Development Center, IMPACT 307, the UW Technology Transfer Office, the gBETA Wyoming accelerator and the Wyoming Business Council. Then they continued to meet virtually and in person to develop entrepreneurial mindset methods and projects for their classrooms.