Monthly Archives: October 2019

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Creating Value by Being Entrepreneurial

  By jlansber • October 11, 2019
Misty Johanson

Dean Misty Johanson | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

The Driehaus College of Business has always been entrepreneurial, in both what it teaches and how it approaches business education. Our college is recognized among the nation’s best for entrepreneurship study by the Princeton Review, which ranks both our undergraduate and graduate programs in the top 25. We earn these rankings because our faculty teaches students to apply theory to practice, providing practical tools and connections for students to turn classroom lessons into real- world business opportunities.

This fall our entrepreneurship faculty became even stronger with the appointment of Maija Renko as Coleman Foundation Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship. Maija—who is profiled by Business Exchange—is an award-winning teacher and researcher who specializes in social entrepreneurship, an area of growing interest among our students.

I also have named Professor Lisa Gundry interim chair of the Department of Management & Entrepreneurship, which oversees our entrepreneur curriculum. A member of our faculty for 30 years, Lisa is an expert in business innovation, and she most recently served as faculty director of our Master of Science in Entrepreneurship program. Our programs also are expanding—DePaul will soon offer a new minor in entrepreneurship for non-business majors.

Our academic programs in entrepreneurship are supported by the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center, which recently launched an innovative “start-up” of its own—the Women in Entrepreneurship Institute (WEI). Supported by an impressive committee of Chicago women business owners, WEI is developing the most comprehensive array of academic, research, incubation and public policy programs in the country to support women entrepreneurs. In this issue’s cover story, you’ll learn how WEI’s new accelerator program is helping women business founders, including our students and alumni, overcome barriers to develop new ventures.

Our college is doing more than teaching the entrepreneurial mindset—we also are applying it to our planning for the future. Innovating our academic programs and centers is at the heart of our college’s new 2024 Strategic Plan: Connection, Culture and Commitment. Innovation is necessary for us to create value for students and alumni and to sustain DePaul’s mission in a challenging higher education landscape.

Our strategic plan calls for us to review and redesign our MBA program, expand our career management services, and develop online programs in select areas to ensure our graduate programs are relevant and competitive. We also plan to revise our under- graduate business degree and enhance career preparedness services and experiential learning opportunities for students. Our goal is to empower students with the analytical skills and career savvy they need to succeed in today’s increasingly complex marketplace.

Strengthening the college’s connections to our alumni network and the Chicago business community is imperative for reaching these goals. We want to engage more alumni as guest lecturers and mentors for our students. We also want to expand alumni and business community support for our centers and institutes, which create value for both our students and the business community through programs that produce career-ready graduates, industry- relevant research and business networking opportunities. I encourage you to review our full strategic plan at go.depaul.edu/Driehaus2024Plan.

I look forward to working together with you to begin reaching our plan’s goals. With your support, we can elevate our college’s profile as a top business school of choice for people living and working in the Chicago area.

Misty Johanson signature
Misty Johanson
Dean
Driehaus College of Business

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College Honors Faculty and Staff Retirees

  By jlansber • October 11, 2019
Finance Chair Eli Brewer (right) congratulates retiree Finance Associate Professor Carl Luft.

Finance Chair Eli Brewer (right) congratulates retiree Finance Associate Professor Carl Luft.

The Driehaus College of Business held a reception in the spring to honor 14 long-serving professors and two staff members who retired from DePaul June 30, 2019.

Retirees celebrated at the event were Associate Professor John Ahern, Ezerski Chair Mark Frigo, Assistant Professor Mark McCarthy, EY Distinguished Professor Bel Needles and Associate Professor David J. Roberts from the School of Accountancy; Professors Bala Batavia and William Sander from the Department of Economics; Associate Professor Carl Luft and Professor Werner F.M. De Bondt from the Department of Finance; Professors Dan Koys, Kenneth Thompson and Harold Welsch, Associate Professor Margaret Posig and Program Administrator Ilya Meiertal from the Department of Management & Entrepreneurship; Associate Professor Roger Baran from the Department of Marketing; and Admissions Associate Petrina Tignino from the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business.

Dean Misty Johanson thanked the honorees for collectively contributing more than 500 years of service to DePaul. “You have transformed the lives of thousands of students through your teaching, advising and program administration,” she said. “You have advanced business thought and practice through your research and industry outreach. You have been our faithful friends, mentors and champions. You embody the Vincentian values we hold dear.”

Two faculty members who accepted deanships at other institutions also were recognized at the reception. Marketing Professor and Associate Provost Lawrence Hamer has been appointed dean of Purdue University Northwest’s College of Business, and Department of Management & Entrepreneurship Chair Dan Heiser has been named dean of the Schneider School of Business & Economics at St. Norbert College.

By Robin Florzaki | Photos by Kathy Hillegonds

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Student-Alumni Communities Formed for Master of Science Programs

  By jlansber • October 11, 2019
Marketing Leaders Community

Marketing Clinical Professor Roger Lall (middle) with students and alumni involved in the new Marketing Leaders Community: (left to right) Nick Schmitt, Kennedy Conn, Margaret Wolfe, Jenna Rummelhart, Raleigh Meier and Abay Sarsenov. | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

Faculty directors of Kellstadt Graduate School of Business Master of Science degree programs are launching social media groups online and hosting industry-related events on campus to create new communities of students and alumni associated with these specialized master’s degrees.

“We are forming these communities because we recognize that our master’s students have an affinity for their programs,” says Christa Hinton (MBA ’98, EdD ’12), assistant dean and director of the graduate business program. “We want to create ways for students, alumni and faculty in these programs to connect with each other, share what’s going on in their industries, and network. For alumni it’s a great way to give back by sharing advice with students, who also represent a pipeline of talent for them.”

One such effort, called the Marketing Leaders Community (MLC), is bringing together students and alumni from the Master of Science in Marketing (MSM) program. “We want to differentiate our MSM program from other universities’ programs by enhancing the student experience both inside and\ outside the classroom,” says Clinical Professor and MSM Program Director Roger Lall. MLC hosts two events focusing on industry trends annually for members.

We wanted to create ways for students, alumni and faculty in these programs to connect with each other, share what’s going on in their industries, and network.”

Raleigh Meier (BUS MS ’19), who served as MLC’s first president, says the group is seeking to broaden alumni connections and promote student engagement. “We hope to get MSM students involved while they are current students [to] make the most of their time at DePaul and then be willing to return [as alumni] in the future to provide advice to incoming students.”

Associate Professor Jaclyn Jensen, faculty director of the Master of Science in Human Resources (MSHR) program, formed a LinkedIn group, DePaul MSHR Program, where 141 MSHR students and alumni share job postings and HR industry-related news. She and the DePaul student chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management also host panel discussions. One recent event focused on innovations in human resources and featured four alumni speakers who are senior HR leaders.

“The MSHR LinkedIn community helps to showcase the career events we hold and alumni who are giving back,” says Jensen, “all while helping link current students with industry professionals.”

To find out more about Kellstadt’s student-alumni MS communities, go to go.depaul.edu/MS-Communities.

By Robin Florzak | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

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DePaul Expert Shares Housing Policy Ideas with New Mayor’s Team

  By jlansber • October 11, 2019
Geoff Smith, executive director of the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul

Geoff Smith, executive director of the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul.

The city needs to align planning for future large projects with affordable housing strategies. Otherwise the market will respond accordingly, and the city will lose affordable housing.”

Last spring, when Chicago Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot outlined her agenda for her first 100 days in office, her priorities included increasing affordable housing to stem population loss in the city. Lightfoot named a 44-member Housing Transition Committee to help her team shape strategies for achieving this goal. Geoff Smith, executive director of the Institute for Housing Studies (IHS) at DePaul, was among the experts tapped to serve on the committee.

Smith participated in two meetings with the mayor-elect’s transition team and the committee to discuss policy ideas and provided a memo with recommendations for preserving affordable housing in the city. “In general, we suggested that the new administration use data to be proactive about targeting strategies for affordable housing, especially in neighborhoods near large, planned city investment projects,” Smith says.

The institute, a research center in the college’s Department of Real Estate, analyzes complex housing data for trends that affect affordable housing in the Chicago area. Its 2016 study of the city’s 606 linear park project, for example, found that one of the unintended consequences of the city turning a defunct elevated rail line into a park was an increase in property values that reduced the availability of affordable housing in some adjacent Northwest Side neighborhoods.

“These data indicate that the city needs to align planning for future large projects, such as the Obama Presidential Center and new trails [similar to the 606], with affordable housing strategies,” Smith says. “Otherwise the market will respond accordingly, and the city will lose affordable housing.”

In his memo to the transition team, Smith wrote that “a data lens can help stakeholders understand local conditions and potential vulnerability; convene diverse audiences around solutions; help develop, prioritize and implement strategies; and track outcomes.”

Although Smith’s work on the transition team has concluded, he says the IHS has strong relationships with local and national policymakers that inform housing policy decisions on an ongoing basis. The institute produces annual reports on the state of rental housing and a quarterly home price index for Cook County, among other research, and posts this information on its website, housingstudies.org.

By Robin Florzak | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

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New Coleman Chair Sees Entrepreneurship as an Agent for Social Change

  By jlansber • October 11, 2019
Maija Renko, Coleman Foundation Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship

Maija Renko, Coleman Foundation Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship

Living in Miami in the 2000s, Maija Renko found herself surrounded by small business activity. She was there as an exchange student from Finland, completing her doctorate of science in international business. “At the time I was interested in the internationalization of technology-based companies, but my experience in Miami immersed me in a culture of start-ups,” says Renko, a professor who teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in management and entrepreneurship.

“The economy there is largely driven by small- and medium-sized businesses,” she says. “That exposure, combined with encouragement from a mentor, inspired me to take a closer look at the entrepreneurial side of business.”

Renko joined DePaul in July as the Coleman Foundation Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship at the Driehaus College of Business. She succeeds longtime chair and founder of DePaul’s entrepreneurship program Harold Welsch, who retired from the university in June.

There are so many issues that entrepreneurs can address not only to make an impact on other people’s lives, but to better their own lives as well.”

An award-winning teacher and scholar on entrepreneurship, Renko joined DePaul from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), where she was voted best MBA professor by students and was instrumental in developing a certificate program to help entrepreneurs and nonprofits build effective social enterprises.

“I love the idea that you can start a business for the purpose of creating social change,” says Renko. “There are so many issues that entrepreneurs can address not only to make an impact on other people’s lives, but to better their own lives as well. I see that more and more in communities throughout Chicago—entrepreneurs building businesses for the primary purpose of making a difference in society.”

One population of entrepreneurs Renko has recently turned her attention to are people with disabilities. “Studies show people with disabilities are significantly more likely to be self-employed than those without, yet there is little research on how and why they pursue business ownership, and the needs and barriers they face along the way,” she explains. Earlier this year, Renko and colleagues from UIC received a $2.4 million grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research to study entrepreneurship among disadvantaged and disabled youth in Chicago.

“For those in younger age groups, the transition from school to working life can be a real challenge,” says Renko. “In this new project we want to develop and test best practices for entrepreneurship training that can help in that transition and beyond.”

It was never her plan to leave Finland for good, but after earning her PhD in entrepreneurship from Florida International University, Renko’s career in academia took off and changed her life’s trajectory.

“Living in the U.S. has opened my eyes to many different social issues and barriers to success that do not exist in Finland,” she says. “This has fueled my passion about the role entrepreneurship can play in bringing about social change. I’m excited to bring my research to DePaul and find out what business interests DePaul students have. Entrepreneurship is a powerful force in today’s society, and the U.S. business community—and Chicago in particular—is an exciting and energizing place to be.”

By Nadia Alfadel Coloma | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

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Getting to the C-Suite: How Sponsorship Can Propel Your Career in Ways that Mentorship Can’t

  By jlansber • October 11, 2019
Stephanie Smith DBA ’19

Stephanie Smith DBA ’19

“Sponsorship and mentorship are often used interchangeably, but they are two different things,” says Stephanie Smith (DBA ’19), vice president and chief human resources officer at DePaul. Making the distinction between the two is a big part of Smith’s recently completed dissertation, which examines racial and gender differences in the executive sponsorship of black women.

Smith is a recent graduate of the Doctorate in Business Administration program at DePaul’s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. She managed human resources organizations for big corporations, including Kraft Foods, before joining DePaul’s executive leadership in 2012.

“Sponsorship as a vehicle for career advancement resonates with me because it made a big difference in my own professional journey, especially as a first-generation corporate professional,” she says. “Over the course of my career, I’ve been fortunate to have people take an interest in my growth, [people] who have helped identify and provide opportunities for me to move forward.”

People tend to seek out mentorship when they want a professional relationship that provides career guidance and development. A mentor is a valuable resource but, according to Smith, can only take you so far, particularly if your goal is to sit at the executive table or get to the role of CEO.

According to research, 95 percent of all white males who are in CEO positions said that there was someone who helped them get there. “Those are sponsors, not mentors, who are lifting them up,” says Smith.

Mentors provide coaching and counseling around a certain issue or career choice. They offer psychosocial support, helping you navigate through organizations or difficult situations, but they can fly under the radar. No one may know you have a mentor. Sponsors, on the other hand, provide strictly career-oriented support that helps open doors to top positions. “They are the people who sit in the rooms where key decisions are made, especially decisions around succession planning,” Smith explains. “They possess the influence, leadership and reputation that allow them to advocate for others. That’s the key difference between mentors and sponsors.”

Conducting a study on sponsors and their proteges, Smith set out to investigate why black women are not represented in the CEO landscape of Fortune 500 companies. “With so much emphasis that companies place on diversity and inclusion initiatives, I find it problematic that the 5% of women CEOs today are all white,” she says. “That’s a weak number for women in general, but it’s bleak for black women in particular. I wanted to find out how and why sponsorship is playing out differently for them.”

They are the people who sit in the rooms where key decisions are made, especially decisions around succession planning…They possess the influence, leadership and reputation that allow them to advocate for others. That’s the key difference between mentors and sponsors.”
– Stephanie Smith

One theory Smith explores in her research is the similarity-attraction paradigm, which posits that people tend to be drawn to people who are similar to themselves. “I found that a number of black women out there do have sponsors to help get them to the top positions, in addition to the education, experience and intellect. But the missing piece had to do with similarity-attraction. White males are still primarily in charge, so part of the issue is that there aren’t enough people of other backgrounds or races with whom to confer on who gets into those executive board rooms.”

Based on these findings, Smith has some advice to share with sponsors: “I think you have a duty to develop a diverse talent pipeline and break the similarity-attraction paradigm. It’s important to see beyond just white males as the prototypical CEO or senior executive. Other people can succeed in those roles, too.”

Smith has these three tips to share for anyone interested in being sponsored:

  • Do excellent work
    It may sound simplistic, but the best way to gain a corporate sponsor is to perform with excellence. Sponsors tend to take someone under their wing because they see a person’s potential, so how you get noticed is through your work. Particularly once they become senior, sponsors want to leave a legacy by developing a talent pipeline for their organization, so they are on the lookout for people who shine.
  • Assume work that increases your visibility
    Of course, you can’t get noticed unless your work is visible, so it’s important to take on responsibilities and projects that will put you in front of the key players in an organization, even if it means going outside of your job’s main duties. You can volunteer to lead a task force or take on a challenging assignment. The quickest way to get noticed, however, is to have a job that is responsible for decisions that contribute to whether an organization/brand fails or succeeds, such as jobs that are responsible for profit and loss. You can ascend to high positions in just about any field, but if the CEO role is your goal, you definitely need experience in profit and loss.
  • Seek access to senior leadership
    The best kind of sponsor-protege relationships happen organically. It’s something that can’t be forced. But to start, you need to be comfortable with introducing yourself to senior leaders when the opportunities present themselves. Whether at networking events or company meetings, don’t be afraid to approach them. Start a conversation and put yourself on their radar. This ability to advocate for yourself, to use political skill to influence people, is key to navigating and leveraging powerful relationships within an organization.

By Nadia Alfadel Coloma | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

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Walgreens Exec Turns Real Estate Experience into Real-world Lessons

  By jlansber • October 11, 2019

Nestor Eliadis MBA ’10

Nestor Eliadis MBA ’10

Nestor Eliadis, senior director of real estate at Walgreens

I chose DePaul because it best combined a world-class education, alumni network and location that provides a gateway to the marketplace.

Residence: Orland Park, Ill.

Occupation: As senior director of real estate for Walgreens, I lead the real estate program in the Southern United States, which includes asset development and portfolio management, as well as direction of the surplus idle property program across the country through disposition and subleasing activity. Since joining the organization in 2011, I have held various roles and responsibilities within the real estate and finance divisions. I serve as the real estate conduit between business, operations, finance, accounting, treasury, law and tax divisions.

Education: I was raised in the southwest suburbs of Chicago and graduated from Brother Rice High School in 1995 with aspirations of becoming an architect. I attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee as a collegiate athlete in men’s soccer for two years prior to transferring to the University of Illinois at Chicago to focus on my architecture degree, which I earned in 2000. After an eight-year professional career in architecture, construction and real estate, I sought to enhance my business and financial acumen through additional education. I chose DePaul because it best combined a world-class education, alumni network and location that provides a gateway to the marketplace. I received an MBA with distinction in real estate finance and investment in 2010.

Vital stats: My formal real estate career began in 2003 when I earned a real estate brokerage license in order to become a more informed home buyer for my personal Chicago residence. I transitioned to corporate real estate in 2006 and joined Walgreens in 2011. Since joining, I’ve had the opportunity to drive real estate decisions for more than 10,000 retail and office properties, execute $2 billion of sale-leasebacks and manage annual budgets of $4 billion in operating expenses and $1 billion of capital expenditures.

What I like best about my job: My job offers me an amazing national real estate platform to identify opportunities, create solutions and implement strategies to deliver results at scale. Additionally, I thoroughly enjoy collaborating with people to develop systems that empower them to execute efficiently.

The biggest challenge I face in my job: Retailers strive to deliver relevant solutions for changing consumers. Flexibility and agility are paramount to our success. The greatest challenge exists in the continual effort to preserve operational flexibility while delivering the maximum real estate value for the lowest costs, which is a conflict in most negotiations.

How and why I stay connected to DePaul’s business college: I owe a lot in my career to the education I received at DePaul. It was a fantastic educational experience for me. I keep in touch with many of the professors who influenced my career and journey since my graduation. I guest-lecture in real estate classes by presenting a case study that connects financial and business theory with real practice. I also participate in two or three real estate department events annually. For me it’s a way of giving back, influencing and challenging students in different ways, and impacting the next generation of DePaul graduates.

By Robin Florzak | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

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Helping the next generation of tax professionals thrive in Chicago and beyond

  By jlansber • October 11, 2019
John Mann MST ’83, MBA ’01

John Mann MST ’83, MBA ’01

My professors had tremendous business and tax experience from accounting firms, corporations and the IRS. They brought their experiences into the classroom, giving us a practical and impactful education.”

When John Mann (MST ’83, MBA ’01) was in high school, he accompanied his mother on an appointment to have her tax return prepared. The meeting would plant the seed for his successful career in the tax field. “For some reason, the experience left an impression on me,” Mann says. “I was intrigued by the questions the tax advisor asked and the calculations that were made. It made me think about finance in a new way.”

Most recently, Mann was vice president of global tax planning at Abbott Laboratories. He holds an MS in taxation and an MBA in finance from DePaul, which he says helped launch his career and connections in the field. “My professors had tremendous business and tax experience from accounting firms, corporations and the IRS,” Mann says. “They brought their experiences into the classroom, giving us a practical and impactful education.”

After completing his MS, Mann went on to lead the tax function at notable corporations, including Dean Foods, ServiceMaster and Walgreens. “A key mentor to me at the start of my career was Bill Zink (BUS ’70, MST ’77),” Mann recalls. “I later learned that Bill had started a scholarship fund at DePaul, so I began to contribute to it. It felt good to support a mentor who I admired and appreciated, while at the same time give back to a cause that I cared about.”

Giving back has always been an important part of Mann’s life, something his mother instilled in him. When he was a teenager, he volunteered with his church youth group to help families in need. “We would do simple things like plant flowers or put together a wagon full of toys for households that may have otherwise had a frugal Christmas.”

As an adult, Mann has continued to give back. He serves on the advisory board and volunteers for the nonprofit organization Ladder Up, which provides free tax and financial assistance to low-income families in Chicago. He leads a prison Bible study group, stays involved with the American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure and donates to DePaul regularly.

“Giving back was modeled to me growing up, but it wasn’t until my 30s that I began to recognize the impact it can make and why it’s so important,” he says.

In 2017, Mann generously established, with his wife, the John and Sharon Mann Scholarship fund in the MST program, to which they recently renewed their commitment with a second significant gift.

“I’m impressed by the MST program, especially under [Faculty Director] Ron Marcuson’s leadership. The expanded online offerings and partnerships with MST programs across the country strengthen the program, which strengthens our tax community. I’ve seen firsthand many graduates go on to achieve major things,” he says. “I wanted to do something that would help students who might not otherwise be able to afford it obtain the same valuable education and mentorship that I did, so they, too, can have fulfilling careers.”

By Nadia Alfadel Coloma | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds

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Driehaus Alumni Teach Kids to be Code Ninjas

  By jlansber • October 11, 2019
Nawroz Pirani (BUS ’07) and Zeeshan Bhimji (BUS ’09)

From right to left: Nawroz Pirani (BUS ’07) and Zeeshan Bhimji (BUS ’09)

Nawroz Pirani (BUS ’07) and Zeeshan Bhimji (BUS ’09) may not be coders, but they’re using their business smarts to teach kids how to code at their Code Ninjas learning center, which they opened last May in Long Grove, Ill. The center teaches children ages seven to 14 how to build video games using computer programming in a fun, interactive environment.

“We’re arming kids with foundational computer science skills, and the best part is, they have no idea how much they’re learning because for them it’s all fun and games,” shares Pirani.

“And it’s not just about coding,” adds Bhimji, “It teaches kids the value of persistence because when you code something, it rarely works the first time. You have to continually troubleshoot before you’re rewarded with something that works.”

One could say the friends are living the American dream. Both moved to the U.S. as teenagers—Pirani from Pakistan and Bhimji from Kenya—to pursue their education and build careers. Both graduated with bachelor’s degrees in finance from DePaul’s Driehaus College of Business.

“DePaul taught me the importance of constantly learning and constantly looking for the void in the market,” shares Bhimji, who started his first business, a residential property management company, after graduating from DePaul at age 24. “I would have not had the confidence to go out there and pursue my business interests were it not for my DePaul education.”

Bhimji has been running profitable franchises for more than 10 years, with Code Ninjas being his newest venture. He grew his property management company from one to two franchises before going on to start a software company, ShowingHero, which was recently nominated for the 2018 Chicago Innovation Award.

“I had to hire developers for my software company, and the experience made me realize how much I didn’t know about coding. I thought, if only I had had more exposure to this growing up,” says Bhimji. “Then when my wife and I had our first child a year ago, I starting looking into educational programs for kids related to coding, and I found Code Ninjas.”

Pirani’s motivations also stemmed from something personal: “I didn’t have good experiences with coding growing up, so I wanted to provide a positive experience for the next generation to learn and excel in this arena. Not everyone is going to be a coder, but no matter what you do in the future, technology is going to be a part of it, so learning these skills early on is critical.”

Prior to opening the center, Pirani spent 10 years building a successful career in the higher education industry. He managed finances and long-term strategy for a $150 million professional education business and worked in IT consulting for top research universities.

“It was through DePaul that I landed my first job after graduation, at Huron Consulting Group,” says Pirani. “DePaul prepared me to go out into the workforce and apply my knowledge with confidence. I learned how to analyze problems and situations from different perspectives, which is an essential skill to have when starting a business.”

The duo has plans to open two more Code Ninja center locations in 2020, one in Arlington Heights and one in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, and their business was recently featured on WGN-TV News.

“When it comes to business, you have to keep your eyes open to where the needs are,” says Bhimji. “Where there is a need, there is an opportunity for business. I’m grateful to DePaul for teaching me that.”

By Nadia Alfadel Coloma

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DePaul Offers Entrepreneur Lessons at South Side Youth Center

  By jlansber • October 11, 2019
JinJa Birkenbeuel, who serves on the advisory board of the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center, leads a discussion on entrepreneurial thinking with Linal Harris (left), founder and principal coach at Insights 4 Life Coaching, LLC.

JinJa Birkenbeuel, who serves on the advisory board of the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center, leads a discussion on entrepreneurial thinking with Linal Harris (left), founder and principal coach at Insights 4 Life Coaching, LLC.

DePaul Univer​​sity’s Coleman Entrepreneurship Center (CEC) summarizes its mission in four words: do good, do well. It’s a message teenagers embraced last spring at the Gary Comer Youth Center on the South Side of Chicago, where the CEC taught them how to develop their entrepreneurial skills to do good and do well.

A series of CEC faculty and board members, including DePaul alumni, visited the youth center from February to May to share their experiences as start-up founders and facilitate hands-on learning about entrepreneurship. Part of the youth center’s High School Smarts program, the initiative aligns Comer’s mission to develop the full potential, talent and skills of young people and  DePaul’s Vincentian mission to engage and empower people in underserved Chicago communities. Frances Comer, wife of the late Gary Comer, the founder of Lands’ End who launched the youth center, suggested the educational partnership to show teens how entrepreneurship can create opportunity.

Fredricka Holloway, youth employment manager at the Comer Youth Center, says the center pursued the partnership because it’s important for young people to learn about entrepreneurship as a potential path to success. “Entrepreneurship fosters creativity, the ability to address community and societal problems, and access to wealth and opportunities,” she says. “Our children must have a foundation and understanding of this to navigate the advances of today. Having the ability to create one’s own business is key for youth and for developing our future business leaders.”

The CEC speakers discussed economic opportunity and the community, developing an entrepreneurial mindset and the types of businesses that entrepreneurs found, among other topics. The teens also participated in hands-on activities that introduced them to the real world of financing, marketing and sales for start-ups. A field trip to Tastytrade, an online financial media company co-led by CEC board member Kristi Ross, allowed them to see these concepts up close.

Four DePaul alumni were among the volunteers who shared their experiences and knowledge with the teens. Bruce Leech (MBA ’81), executive director of the CEC, was among them.

“When we first heard about the Comer opportunity, we jumped at the chance to expand our community outreach and leverage our entrepreneurship programs at the CEC,” he says. “It was a tremendous experience for our board members and mentors, who were very impressed with the students.

“While our team was there to provide their insights to these students, I know we all received much more in return by appreciating their commitment to this program. I was also very inspired with the purpose-driven business ideas the Comer students developed, like addressing the food desert on the South Side of Chicago by starting a healthy grocery store in the neighborhood.”

The program taught teens valuable skills—brainstorming, decision-making and presenting business ideas—that can be applied to entrepreneurship or any career, Holloway says.

“They enjoyed the opportunity to work on a real-life business and be able to present it as a future opportunity,” she adds. “They also were very enthusiastic and excited about the guest speakers – they appreciated talking with them and the interest speakers took in their ideas.

“Not only do they express that they want to be entrepreneurs,” she adds, “some already are working on businesses of their own.”

The CEC and Comer plan to continue the program at the youth center this academic year.

By Robin Florzak