In honor of National Entrepreneurship Week, a week that allows communities and universities from across the country to promote entrepreneurship, the CEBI is hosting an Entrepreneurship Fiesta from 4 to 7 p.m. today in the McCauley Lounge and is open to all students who are interested in new business opportunities.

“We are looking for people to get involved with us and to be exposed to our program,” said Julie Messing, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation (CEBI). “We want to reach out to students across Kent’s campus and let them know that these opportunities exist.”

The CEBI wants to reach out, not only to business students who know about its opportunities, but to non-business students from different backgrounds.

Messing said the entrepreneurship program offers classes that are open to any student on campus. Out of 140 students who take Introduction to Entrepreneurship classes, 40 percent are non-business majors.

Tyra Byrd, a 19-year-old public relations major who graduated high school at age 16, sees a new opportunity offered to her, and said she takes it.

“Students should start taking advantage of the opportunities that they are given, especially if they want to be successful in life,” Byrd said. “Every time someone asks me what I want to do after I graduate, I tell them I want to own everything and be my own boss.”

Byrd has always wanted to double major in something and found out about the business program from her adviser.

“I want to be successful in life and that is why I know this would be a really good program for me,” Byrd said. “And I never knew about it until now.”

The CEBI is working to make students more aware of the opportunities that are there for them.

“If you are in journalism, biology or fashion you don’t hear about our programs everyday like our business students do,” Messing said. “We want students to know because we feel a lot of students would be interested in a minor or working in a business to gain experience.”

For example, Messing said there is only a slight chance students who are majoring in music are going to become a professional musician. The entrepreneurship program will give you the opportunity and experience to start a business to teach music lessons or build a business around the idea for a music store.

“Even though they are musicians at heart and that is their discipline, they have the opportunity to gain some business exposure, and they will learn how to take their passion and turn it into an opportunity,” Messing said. “That is really what entrepreneurship is.”

At the Fiesta, faculty, entrepreneurs in residence, advisers and current entrepreneurship students will be available to help and talk to students about job opportunities, student-run businesses, scholarships, entrepreneurship majors and minors and how to become more involved.

“There are many job opportunities, including four student-run businesses, on and off campus, that need students to work in the businesses,” Messing said. “The work covers every aspect of running a business from deciding what kind of inventory should be there to putting together a budget to selling things to customers.”

Contact business administration reporter Kelly Maile at [email protected].