ANN ARBOR ? University of Michigan President Mary Sue Colman said U-M is making a more concerted effort to train students to become entrepreneurs.
Speaking the 31st Michigan Growth Capital Symposium at the Marriott in Ypsilanti Colman, who has been U-M president since 2002, said the university has been enhancing courses focused on entrepreneurship.
?My first eye opening experience happened seven years ago when the director of admissions told me one in ten freshman had started a business in high school,? she said. ?With 6000 freshmen, that meant about 600 had already done something as an entrepreneur. So I started thinking about what to do to encourage this activity.?
Michigan has taken $25 million from its multi-billion dollar endowment to invest in faculty startups over the next decade. She said once the new companies start, and get the first round of investment from a venture capital firm, they will be eligible for a $500,000 match in the first round, and up to $1 million in the second and subsequent rounds. She said faculty members created 92 start-up companies in the past decade alone.
She also noted the student-lead 1000 pitches contest ? elevator pitches on UTube ? that last fall generated around 3000 as another example of the entrepreneurial spirit at Michigan.
? What we can do to be better, we will do more,? Colman said. ?Like that old baseball philosopher Yogi Berra once said, ?The future ain?t what it used to be.? This state is looking at a very different future.?
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