Entrepreneurs and Education: A great need for talent

Our mission at EFNW is to help entrepreneurial companies, their employees and their leaders find ways to contribute to the community. We can give back money, our time or our talent.  I’d like to talk about talent.

 

The future competitiveness of the United States depends on an educated, creative, entrepreneurial workforce. As entrepreneurs you have a responsibility to do as much as you can to pass on your knowledge, skills and wisdom to the next generation. But you’re busy building a company; who has the time? Here are some ideas-

  • Volunteer to attend a career day at a local school; inspire a future entrepreneur with your exploits- time 2hours, contact your local school district. Sponsor a company tour- 2 hours
  • Sign your company up to participate in a job shadow program. Oregon High school graduation now requires that each student “Demonstrate career-related knowledge and skills.” One way they can do this is through work experiences such as job shadows or internships. Time 2-4 hours per job shadow but the student is shadowing; just observing. What fun to sit through one of your staff meetings or watch you pitch to a VC. Here are some websites- Washington County School to Work, Business Education Compact/SAO
  • Volunteer as a coach with one of the extracurricular programs at your local school such as LEGO Robotics, MESA (Math, Engineering and Science Achievement) . ORTOP, Oregon MESA I’ve done both of these; it takes about 1-2 hours per week for about 5-6 weeks.
  •  A number of high schools are also doing entrepreneurial programs such as student run businesses and financial training. Check out the Leadership & Entrepreneurship Public High School in Portland- http://www.lephigh.org/  Check with your local school district. All of the Universities in Oregon also have entrepreneurship programs. University of Portland- The University of Portland, Portland State- Portland State. They can always use advisors and coaches. Time is dependent on you.
  • There is a week long summer program for high school students interested in entrepreneurship- Young Entrepreneurs Business Week. This is a week long, intense program to teach entrepreneurial skills. It includes a business simulation, guest speakers, stockholders presentations and creation and presentation of business plans. They need volunteer judges for the presentations- 2 hours, and company advisors- all week from 8AM to 9PM. Young Entrepreneurs Business Week. I’ve done both; its an amazing experience.
  • TechStart, the spin-off from the Software Association of Oregon that provides programs to teachers to learn technology needs help with their webpage and with grant writing and program evaluation. http://www.techstart.org/
  • Employers for Education Excellence (E3) has a program called Partnerships for Student Success- http://e3oregon.org/pss/. E3 works directly with selected school districts to help schools build strong relationships with their local business and civic leaders, and tackle key academic challenges.
  • Portland State University School of Business is looking for business projects for Fall Term. Teams of 3-4 students take on marketing, financial or strategic planning projects. Contact Brian Ruder at 503 504 4898.
  • If you have more time there are more opportunities- local school committees, advisory boards such as budget committees, schools boards, Community College and University boards.

EFNW members are about building future philanthropy. What better way to create a future than to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs. If you’re really helpful maybe they’ll give you a job or let you invest.