Approach

Job creation and business sustainability are global concerns. The number of new businesses is not keeping pace with the number of business closures each year. Startups fuel job creation, are essential to economic health, and entrepreneurs are critical to the American economy. Since 2000, the Innovation and Entrepreneurship program (formerly OFC) has had a tremendous impact on entrepreneurship development at the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). As a program of TMCF, we ensure that the HBCU community does its part to produce a talented and diverse pipeline of future entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs.

An important distinction in the program is that it takes a holistic approach to infusing education and professional development in innovation & entrepreneurship. 

The approach is 3-fold:

Identify

Participants are vetted through a rigorous innovative application process that includes a skill-centric application, HireVue interview and Gallup BP10 Assessment.

Develop

We create an environment to accelerate student’s exposure to Design Thinking, Business Model Canvas, and Code Education. Participants are placed in teams and challenged to collectively leverage their natural talents to build ideas and provide solutions to business problems.

Deploy

Our students are exposed to some of the world’s best corporations, start-up business enterprises, world-class entrepreneurs and other business experts. Participants can leverage key learnings and critical thinking experiences to demonstrate newly acquired skills, boost their resume, expand their network, win unique prizes, obtain funding for startup businesses, and gain exposure for mentorships, internships and full-time employment opportunities.

Learning Objectives

  • Develop an entrepreneurial mindset focusing on the 3 C’s – Curiosity, Connections and Creating value
  • Entrepreneurially minded students should:
    • Have constant curiosity about our changing world and challenge accepted solutions
    • Habitually connect information from many sources to gain insight and manage risk
    • Create value for others from unexpected opportunities; learn from failure and persist