Education: MBA Entrepreneurship and Managing Innovation

On March 4th, I started my MBA program with Benedictine University online. There were several reasons that I chose this concentration, but most importantly I chose this option because I want a formal education on entrepreneurship. I started with the basics, of course, but I was finally able to take one of my concentration courses in entrepreneurship. I am very excited! The course sessions are 8 weeks long and run consecutively minus a short break for winter and summer.

Here's an excerpt from the Entrepreneurship course syllabus:

Course Description

This course deals with new venture management, examining entrepreneurial personalities, managing creativity, and establishing a successful enterprise.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, each student will be able to:

• Develop an understanding of entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial process.
• Assess the feasibility of new business concepts and ideas.
• Explain and analyze new business venture management principles including opportunity recognition, market assessment, and financial planning.
• Formulate a plan to identify resources and skills needed to grow a new venture business.
• Analyze various exit strategies for new business ventures.
• Create business plans for development and financing of new business ventures.

The weekly discussion posts were a great way to help me see other opinions and expand my thinking on the various subjects while the written assignments gave great opportunities for constructive feedback to help me improve my thoughts and processes. We also had a group project in this course. We chose to focus on developing a mobile app to search for lowest price textbooks and supplemental materials for graduate and undergraduate students. That was a challenge for me as I have no experience in mobile app development. However, it was a challenge that I now appreciate. We were also encouraged to create a business plan of our own or tweak an existing business plan, and this is what I will be working on continuously.

My next course started today, and I am very excited! This new course focuses on technology and innovation in business!! I am enjoying the learning platform and my instructors & classmates are amazing! Education is power!