Entrepreneurship at Mason

aRe yoU an entrepreneur?

"Considerable debate has taken place through the years to determine whether entrepreneurs are born and possess innate genetic talents, or whether they learn the skills necessary to become successful. Most experts now generally agree that entrepreneurs were not born; they learned to become entrepreneurs."
Excerpt from the Public Forum Institute.

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A Mason story - Brandon Labman (Marketing) and Tom Moore (Government and International Politics) are seniors at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Their passion and innovative approach to helping students began while they were interns at a nonprofit organization. A nationwide calling campaign sparked their business idea. The organization needed to find between 30 and 50 students to make its campaign successful, and Tom and Brandon quickly implemented a plan to get their friends and fellow students aboard the project. A few weeks after the campaign ended, the concept of helping students find jobs began to evolve. On September 23, 2003, Responsible Outgoing College Students, Inc. (ROCS) was created. Since, ROCS has worked with over 50 companies and helped hundreds of students from the Northern Virginia area. In 2005, Tommy and Brandon were recognized at the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA). View Story

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The Entrepreneurs Mind -- The Entrepreneurs Mind is a Web resource that presents an array of real-life stories and advice from successful entrepreneurs and industry experts on the many different facets of entrepreneurship and emerging business.

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Global Entrepreneurship Week will be held November 17th through the 23rd and "countries all around the world are joining together to carry the banner of Global Entrepreneurship Week, an initiative aimed at young people everywhere. During the week of November 17 - 23, 2008, partner organizations will conduct a range of activities - from simple speeches to comprehensive competitions - designed to inspire, connect, inform, mentor and engage the next generation of entrepreneurs." Excerpt from the Unleashingideas.org website.

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The Kauffman Foundation - Policy, Research, and Education

"The Kauffman Foundation is working to further understand the phenomenon of entrepreneurship, to advance entrepreneurship education and training efforts, to promote entrepreneurship-friendly policies, and to better facilitate the commercialization of new technologies by entrepreneurs and others which have great promise for improving the economic welfare of our nation. . . The Kauffman Foundation's research initiatives have contributed to a more robust and nuanced understanding of entrepreneurship. Years of work in this area have taught us a great deal about this important driver of growth and innovation in our society. But our work in this field has also taught us much about what we have left to learn and explore." The Kauffman Foundation is the leading organization promoting entrepreneurship policy, research, and education throughout the United States and the World.

The Mercatus Center at George Mason University

"Economics is everywhere. It's at the gas pump, in foreign aid, in the fluctuation of currency values. Economics is not just graphs and charts. It's real-world knowledge about the decisions people make and the effects of those decisions. Incentives affect the choices people make. Some basic social and political structures facilitate prosperity. These are some of the core economic concepts that policy makers must understand to be effective. Unfortunately, a gap often exists between economic understanding and real-world decision making. Policy decisions miss their targets and create unintended and sometimes harmful consequences. For over 25 years, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University has sought to bridge this gap. Mercatus applies scholarly research to the problems facing policy makers. Bringing together a network of scholars and experts from around the globe, the Mercatus Center provides policy makers with the economic tools to make sense of today's most pressing issues. Mercatus turns ideas into action." Excerpt from the Mercatus website.