Augustana College has made strides in fostering student entrepreneurship through its EDGE Center, offering hands-on experience in marketing, communications and creative services. Still, it can do more to empower students to launch their business ventures.
The EDGE Center has laid the foundation for the campus’ framework for entrepreneurial learning. It provides internships and opportunities like the Augustana Creative Enterprise Fund (ACEF) and the annual business plan pitch competition. Students engage in practical experiences, from web design to social media marketing, allowing them to cultivate technical and soft skills essential for entrepreneurship.
However, while these offerings serve as an excellent introduction to entrepreneurship, they often operate in isolation. The focus on assisting local businesses through the EDGE Center is a great step in the direction of helping students develop these skills, but it could be expanded to more directly support students in their entrepreneurial aspirations.
One of the most pressing gaps in Augustana’s current model is the lack of direct support for students who want to create and implement their business ideas, especially those they have already developed and are trying to further expand.
While student groups like Advertising Developers (ADs) and Enactus provide experiential learning, they often cater to external clients rather than fostering student-led projects.
Augustana does offer an annual business plan competition for students, but this fails to cater to students with existing small businesses and only occurs once per school year.
To remedy this, Augustana could create dedicated programs where students can work on their own existing business ideas alongside their studies, and a social media page or collaborations with existing student-run pages to provide a venue to market student ideas.
Fostering a culture of entrepreneurship also requires robust networking opportunities. Augustana should consider organizing regular pitch nights, workshops and speaker series featuring successful alumni and local entrepreneurs – inspiring current students and allowing them to connect with potential mentors and collaborators.
To further enrich the entrepreneurial ecosystem at Augustana, the college could implement mentorship programs that pair students with experienced entrepreneurs in their fields of interest.
These could be for course credit or even integrated into the core curriculum to provide all students, regardless of their major, with the foundational knowledge necessary to pursue their business ventures.
Finally, while the ACEF is a great initiative, increasing the scope and accessibility of funding for student ventures could significantly impact their success. More grants, stipends or even a seed fund dedicated to student-led projects could encourage more students to leap into entrepreneurship.
Augustana has established a solid foundation for entrepreneurship through the EDGE Center and related programs. However, to truly cultivate a vibrant entrepreneurial spirit on campus, the college must take bolder steps to encourage student-led initiatives.
As the world becomes increasingly entrepreneurial, Augustana has a unique opportunity to lead the charge and empower its students to transform their innovative ideas into thriving businesses. By enhancing support for student projects, expanding networking opportunities and increasing financial resources, Augustana can become a true incubator for student entrepreneurship.