DETROIT ? Dan Gilbert, majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA franchise and founder and chairman of Quicken Loans, the nation’s largest online home mortgage lender, has created an innovative Urban Entrepreneurial Academy called Bizdom U, aimed at developing, training, mentoring and financing young entrepreneurs at Wayne State University.
Gilbert?s concept was introduced Dec. 1 during Wayne State University?s TechTown First Fridays Networking Soiree.
Set to launch in January 2007, Bizdom U is a full-time, year-round, two-year program designed to produce entrepreneurs who will start-up and lead successful Detroit-based businesses. The goal of the Urban Entrepreneurial Academy is to provide graduates of urban high schools who do not plan on pursuing a four-year degree with an alternative education in entrepreneurship.
Students accepted into the program will delve into a rigorous curriculum of practical, street-smart, real-world training, culminating in the development of a business plan. Those who graduate from Bizdom U can expect between $25,000 and $500,000 to be invested over time, based on milestones and performance, into their companies.
?It is difficult to put into words just how extraordinary an opportunity this is for the youth of Detroit,? says Howard Bell, TechTown?s executive director. ?Thanks to Dan Gilbert, high school graduates who get accepted into Bizdom U will be provided with tuition, lodging, meals and access to state-of-the-art technologies throughout two years of intensive entrepreneurial training.?
Gilbert earned his bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and his law degree from Wayne State University. He founded Rock Financial in 1985 as a 22-year-old, first-year law student. Rock Financial grew into one of the largest independent mortgage banks in the country. Gilbert?s Quicken Loans Inc. is expected to close on $18 billion in residential mortgage loans by year?s end.
