Kenan-Flagler professor Jim Kitchen challenges undergraduate students in his Entrepreneurship and Business Planning course to come up with business ventures that will ultimately help charities across the Triangle.
Being a great entrepreneur is more than making profits – it’s about purpose. That’s a key message UNC Kenan-Flagler professor Jim Kitchen teaches undergraduate students in his Entrepreneurship and Business Planning course.
Kitchen challenges them to come up with business ventures, and profits go to charities across the Triangle.
“Since I started this project in 2012, we’ve generated almost $250,000 in profits for local charities,” Kitchen said. “Entrepreneurship is a contact sport. It must be experienced. So for this project, students succeed or fail based on their ideas as well as their abilities to execute on branding, marketing, sales, managing, creating partnerships, scaling and pivoting when required.”
But the project is more than learning the basics. “It’s about teaching students to think about what is important to them and why, and identifying and developing the values that will guide them for the rest of their lives.”
“This class taught me so much about the importance of incorporating service into our learning,” said sophomore Raven Seldon.
Students are expected to generate approximately $1,000 in profits in four weeks.
Originally published March 11, 2019.