20-Month Program Uses Creativity to Inspire New Start-Ups
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University (http://bschool.pepperdine.edu) will offer a 20-month program for highly motivated aspiring entrepreneurs to help them launch new start-up ventures, beginning April 2011 at Pepperdine’s Los Angeles/Howard Hughes Center location. The Master of Science in Entrepreneurship degree program (http://bschool.pepperdine.edu/programs/masters-entrepreneurship/) will focus on unlocking each student’s creativity in order to help them generate bankable ideas that are unique and personally compelling, the approach that the school successfully incorporated into its MBA programs last year.
“Our curriculum arms them with the skills and know-how to create, innovate, lead and manage a new venture that generates profits and creates jobs.”
“The M.S. in Entrepreneurship is ideal for visionaries, self-starters, scientists and inventors who desire to generate an innovative solution to an important problem, and build a business that satisfies an unmet market need, attracts investors and creates personal wealth,” said Dr. Larry Cox, director and architect of the entrepreneurship program at the Graziadio School.
The 20-month Masters program (http://bschool.pepperdine.edu/programs/masters-entrepreneurship/curriculum/) offers a focused and condensed graduate-level business curriculum delivered evenings and weekends, that can be completed in less time than an MBA and targets the immediate interests of potential entrepreneurs.
Students complete two trimesters of foundational studies in accounting, economics, finance and marketing. They then start a series of courses designed to assist them in conceiving, modeling, planning and founding their own business. Launching a new venture is the goal for each student in the program.
Students first develop a personally compelling and feasible venture idea with large market potential in creative innovation classes. The following courses flesh out a business model that will generate profits, build an effective organization and connect the business concept with the intended market. The curriculum also exposes students to the legal aspects of entrepreneurship and conducting business in global markets; as well as helps them discover their own leadership styles and how to manage their personal development. The final step is a course that pulls it all together, resulting in a business plan that students are required to present to a panel of potential angel and venture capital investors.
The Masters program is the antithesis of a business plan-writing program for weak disposable start-up concepts, says Dr. Cox. “The M.S. in Entrepreneurship puts would-be entrepreneurs on the fast-track to bringing an idea to market in 20 months - to building a business that is deliberately structured and built for profitability,” he said. “Our curriculum arms them with the skills and know-how to create, innovate, lead and manage a new venture that generates profits and creates jobs.”
The first class cohort starts next April at Pepperdine’s West Los Angeles/Howard Hughes Center campus. The deadline for applying is February 28, 2011. Aspiring entrepreneurs will get a chance to learn more about the Masters program at the free workshop event “LAUNCH U: Unleashing Your Inner Entrepreneur” (http://bschool.pepperdine.edu/launchU) on Thursday, November 18, at Pepperdine’s Howard Hughes Center location, 6100 Center Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90045, starting at 6:30 p.m.
For further information about the Masters program please visit http://bschool.pepperdine.edu/programs/masters-entrepreneurship/ or contact Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management at (888) 339-0109 or email mbabsm(at)pepperdine.edu.
About the Graziadio School of Business and Management
Founded on the core values of integrity, stewardship, courage, and compassion, Pepperdine University’s Graziadio (GRAT-ZEE-ah-DEE-oh) School of Business and Management has been developing values-centered leaders and advancing responsible business practice since 1969. Student-focused, experience-driven, and globally-oriented, the Graziadio School offers fully accredited MBA, Masters of Science, and bachelor’s completion business programs. More information found at http://bschool.pepperdine.edu/newsroom/.
