DEAR FRIENDS OF LOYOLA,
People are a central ingredient in any innovative ecosystem. Without people to recognize opportunities, drive ideas, take risks, gather resources, lead and follow, the economic engine of business creation sputters. To develop a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem, we—the Loyola community and the broader entrepreneurial ecosystem in New Orleans—need not only entrepreneurs colliding with innovative technology, but also daring people who make entrepreneurs into leaders and who develop technologies into businesses.
In other words, we need the critical "first followers." Without those who follow, an entrepreneur remains that a "lone nut,”—that is, the person who stands isolated until the first follower comes. As Derek Sivers discussed in his 2010 TED Talk "How to Start a Movement,” it’s really the first follower that transforms the “lone nut” into a leader. So, in addition to “lone nut” entrepreneurs, we’re also looking for those with the gumption to get up and be the first to join us.
What if an entire generation could be networked and equipped with a common language, shared experiences, and set of tools to be hyper-focused on execution and scalability, then thrown into value-creating enterprises?
Founded in Fall 2014, the Center for Entrepreneurship and Community Development housed within the College of Business endeavors to build something unique and valuable to the local community that it serves. As a liberal arts school rooted in the Jesuit tradition, Loyola University understands both leadership and service to others, the importance of personal passion in all things, and the inherent value in connecting interdisciplinary ideas with knowledge for its own sake. On these principles, we set out to build a program to train aspiring entrepreneurs.
We are not here to create businesses. We are here to invest in people. We are here to cultivate an “innovation-ready workforce”: a force that pushes entrepreneurship from the bottom up and becomes the proving ground for our next generation of successful entrepreneurs. A member of the innovation ready workforce has the following attributes:
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an ability to learn on the fly, battle-tested through experiential learning that repeatedly approaches problems from different angles;
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a curious mind, honed through rigorous, interdisciplinary study;
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a familiarity with technology, defined in the broadest sense, from both behind the wheel & under the hood;
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and a grounding in the fundamentals of business and modern tools of entrepreneurship.
Much like Venture for America is doing on a national scale, we want to build a center of excellence that serves our regional and local communities. We want to connect entrepreneurship to our region’s legacy industries and create an entrepreneurial ecosystem that is ahead of the next wave instead of chasing the last one. We are committed to our students in both their individual successes and ability to create change as a group.
It is in this spirit that we are excited to share with you what we have accomplished over the last two years. Because we don’t want to be the “lone nut”—we hope that you will dare to support us in building the movement to come.
SINCERELY,
JON J. ATKINSON
FOUNDING DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT