Six Kent State students took a week of their summer to fully immerse themselves in an entrepreneurial environment, learning what it take to start a successful business. The LaunchNET Kent State clients joined student teams from 10 other Northeast Ohio colleges and universities for Entrepreneurship Immersion Week (EIW), which took place July 30 - August 4 at Cleveland State University.
The event is an intensive one-week immersion experience for undergraduates from all disciplines to learn the skills needed to develop new business concepts and apply these skills in a team-based concept competition. Teams of students from each of the Entrepreneurship Education Consortium (EEC) eleven-member institutions participated in workshops, worked with advisors and speakers, interviewed potential customers, researched business ideas, and built prototypes before presenting them to a panel of judges at the end of the week.
The Kent State team, called Fabnetics, consisted of Sydney Bihn (Senior, Aerospace Engineering), Deja Jones (Sophomore, Communications), Marissa McKinney (Senior, Marketing & Finance), India Pineiro (Junior, Fashion Merchandising), and Jennifer Uren (Junior, Marketing). They devised (and sewed) fashionable clothing held together with magnets to assist those who have trouble with traditional buttons or snaps. Aron Gates (Junior, Computer Science & Applied Mathematics) participated as part of the Ashland University team.
Marissa McKinney had this to say about the week: “EIW was a great experience! I learned so much about entrepreneurship and even got to network with some influential people within the field. The competition at the end was a great way to cap off the week and showcase our new skills.”
Of the annual event, Zach Mikrut, program manager at LaunchNET Kent State, said, “I always look forward to this week to see the excitement surrounding the students’ ideas. This year was no different, and we were impressed with their enthusiasm, the collaboration between majors, and entrepreneurial mindset of our students.”