Entrepreneurship


Florida Real Estate Investor Donates Scholarship

Alum Gives Fellow Business Students a Chance to Thrive

Like many UConn finance majors, Jeffrey R. Talbot ’00 followed his dream after graduation of working on Wall Street. He became a successful investment banker at Morgan Stanley in New York, but soon realized his passion was actually real estate investment.Continue Reading


UConn Launches 5th Innovation Quest

Students, alumni, and mentors gathered on Feb. 22 to launch the 5th Annual Innovation Quest.
Students, alumni, and mentors gathered on Feb. 22 to launch the 5th Annual Innovation Quest. (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)

Students, Teams, Ideas Soaring to New Levels, Mentors Say

Graduate nursing student Samantha Nesbeth wants to find a way to use genetics, instead of hair transplants, to help men and women regrow thinning hair.

“When you lose your hair, you see yourself as a different person,” said Nesbeth. “You don’t know who you are without hair. It can be disabling and depressing. Your hair is part of who you are,” said the Meriden native, who is planning a career as a nurse practitioner specializing in dermatology.Continue Reading


‘We’re Starting to Have Our Voices Heard’

Military outfit beside American flag.

Senator Blumenthal Attends UConn Roundtable on Veteran Employment; Seeks Ideas, Concerns, Suggestions

Their livelihoods couldn’t be more diverse—from farming to aerospace to cleaning services—but their message was the same: help us and help our fellow veterans find, keep and create great jobs.

That was the message that some 70 people delivered to U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) during a roundtable discussion Thursday, Jan. 7. Hosted by UConn’s School of Business, the focus of the event was how Congress can further support veteran hiring and veteran-owned businesses.Continue Reading


Professor Timothy Folta Leads Corporate Strategy Conference in France

Tim Folta presenting with a slide containing the heading "Behavioral and Agency Efforts on Redeployment Strategies II - Internal Synergy & Redeployment Seeking -."
Tim Folta (Courtesy of University of Strasbourg)

When does it make sense for corporations to expand by adding additional products or businesses to their portfolio?

The topic was the subject of a three-day international conference last month in Strasbourg, France, titled, “Corporate Strategy and Resource Redeployment,” which was organized by UConn Management Professor Timothy B. Folta.Continue Reading


The $5 Challenge

Aspiring Entrepreneurs Use Money to Make Money

In his “Risks and Rewards of Entrepreneurship” course, management professor Timothy Folta gave student groups $5 and told them to use it as start-up cash for a new business. The project was designed to spur creativity around new business ideas.

Students had one week to brainstorm ideas, but once they received the cash, they had only two hours to make as much money as possible.

Interestingly, the group that made the most money did not even use the start-up funds.Continue Reading


Honoring Veterans 365 Days a Year

Portrait of Angel Charles.
Angel Charles, Connecticut National Guard and 2015 EBV Participant (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)

 

UConn’s Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans Helps Military Heroes Become Business Moguls

The UConn School of Business has a strong and proud history of serving the educational and career needs of military leaders and veterans, a tradition that dates back to its earliest days.

After WWII, the university offered business classes at Fort Trumbull in New London to serve returning GIs. The creation of a full-time MBA program on the Storrs campus in 1960, another milestone at the School of Business, occurred as a direct result of a contract to expand educational opportunities for members of the Air Force.Continue Reading


MasterCard Worldwide Champions Women at Work

MasterCard Worldwide, the recent platinum sponsor of UConn’s third annual Women Entrepreneurs Empowerment Forum, has been a long-time champion of women in the workplace.

In addition to offering a powerful mentoring program to help women advance up the career ladder within its own company, MasterCard also monitors gender issues around the globe.Continue Reading


‘Top Notch’

Group photo of UConn EBV Class of 2015.
EBV Class of 2015 (Lisa Ducharme)

UConn Graduates 25 from EBV Program; Veteran Entrepreneurs Poised to Start Own Businesses

After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, retired U.S. Marine Corp. Staff Sergeant Lawrence “LD” Dapo’s assignment was to fly then-Vice President Cheney to an undisclosed, secure location.

“It was all business that day,” Dapo recalled. “I had no time to reflect on the tragedy until afterwards. But that was the day I knew I would marry my wife. She was quite the trooper.”Continue Reading


Terrific Tea-riffic!

Mario Leite ’98 and Souvannee Leite ’98 pose with Tea-Rific Ice Cream.
Mario Leite ’98 and Souvannee Leite ’98 (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)

Enterprising Husband-and-Wife Team Create Award-Winning, Tea-infused Ice Cream

What happens when you combine two of America’s top comfort foods with the ambition and knowledge of an enterprising UConn husband-and-wife team?

The result is an award-winning, tea-infused dessert, called Tea•rrific! Ice Cream. The company, founded in 2011, is now producing 23,000 pints of ice cream a month, which is sold at Whole Foods, Stop & Shop and specialty stores and restaurants from Maine to the Washington D.C.-area.Continue Reading


Cosmo Editor Shares Advice

Portrait of Joanna Coles.

Work Becomes Easier When You Get to the Top

How do I ask for a raise?

That’s one of the most common questions that the editors of Cosmopolitan magazine are asked every year, said Editor-in-Chief Joanna Coles.

Coles, who since 2012 has led the world’s largest women’s magazine, with 18 million readers in the U.S. alone, regaled some 300 women with stories of career and life, at the third annual Women Entrepreneurs Empowerment Forum on Sept. 18. The event was presented by Platinum Sponsor MasterCard and hosted by the UConn School of Business at UConn Stamford.Continue Reading