Planners Expect Another Big Entrepreneurship Week at UA

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — According to a Kauffman Foundation of Entrepreneurs survey, 75 percent of Americans think the United States cannot have a sustained economic recovery without another burst of entrepreneurial activity.

So, the entrepreneurial forces at The University of Alabama are taking that to heart and are busy planning 2011’s campus-wide week of entrepreneurship.

“Entrepreneurship Week at UA continues to grow,” said David Ford, Alabama state coordinator for Entrepreneurship Week USA and a lecturer in the management and marketing department at UA’s Culverhouse College of Commerce.

“The theme for 2011 is ‘empowerment through entrepreneurship,’ and one of our goals is to recognize people in our state who are demonstrating how entrepreneurship can definitely empower those who embrace it,” Ford said.

Entrepreneurship Week 2011 will be observed Feb. 21-25, Ford said, although “Entrepreneurship is a 24-7, 365-day-a-year thing.”

Thomas Friedman, columnist for The New York Times and author of “The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century,” will speak Feb. 22 as part of the Entrepreneurship Week activities. Friedman has won three Pulitzer Prizes and written five best-selling books.

The Entrepreneurship Week planning committee will join with the Alabama Department of Education to promote the week of celebration through the schools. “We may set up a webinar or something similar to make teachers around the state aware of the events and the award opportunities,” Ford said.

The state leadership team has created several awards to honor people who demonstrate entrepreneurship in their daily lives, Ford said. The awards tentatively include:

• High School Entrepreneurial Educator of the Year
• College Entrepreneurial Educator of the Year
• For-Profit Young Entrepreneur of the Year
• Social Entrepreneur of the Year

“These awards recognize exceptional instructors at the high school and higher education levels, instructors who make an impact on their students’  lives by teaching them how to become entrepreneurs and emphasizing the importance entrepreneurship plays in the U.S. economy,” Ford said.

“We also will recognize exceptional achievement in entrepreneurship in the private business sector and in the not-for-profit area.”

Ford said the planning committee is considering adding a fifth award for women/minority entrepreneurs if financial support can be obtained.

Ford said anyone who supports entrepreneurship can nominate individuals who quality for the awards.

The awards will be presented at a ceremony Feb. 24, Ford said. The location and a keynote speaker will be announced later.