Anthony Herrera joined Furman in the summer of 2018 as the executive director of its new Office for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and finding the first seedling to water in\u00a0the university\u2019s already-sprouting startup garden was as simple as opening the door to his very empty office in Hipp Hall.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are a startup, and the startup is to develop and grow an institute that is focused on innovation and entrepreneurship for Furman,\u201d Herrera said. \u201cWhat that means is growing an entrepreneurship and innovation culture here on campus and ultimately contributing to the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u00a0hopes to take a big step in that direction this summer with the first summer business and entrepreneurship boot camp, which will run June 3-21. Open to any student who has completed at least his or her freshman year of college as well as college graduates who have been out of school for no longer than two years, it offers the chance to \u201cmaster the foundations of business and fundamentals of entrepreneurship.\u201d<\/p>\n
More information about the boot camp, including how to apply, can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Making the camp unique, Herrera says, is a curriculum tailored to non-business majors.<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately students who come out of that certificate program will be equipped to not only be an entrepreneur and have the fundamentals and foundations to start their own entrepreneurship venture but also will be really effective intrapreneurs,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ll be very well equipped to go into an organization and help drive change and innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n Herrera has walked the startup walk \u2014 he launched his own executive search firm \u2014 but wasn\u2019t sure just how much from scratch the work would be at Furman. Turned out, in many ways the campus had begun without him.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I came here I wanted to do an assessment. Is there even an interest in entrepreneurship?\u201d he said. \u201cAnd what I\u2019m finding is it is widely sought after. A lot of students are interested in it, a lot of staff.\u201d<\/p>\n So interested that students had already founded a number of organizations dedicated to the cause, including inVenture, an entrepreneurship group, and the Furman Creative Collaborative, which is committed to fostering a creative culture.<\/p>\n On the staff side, art department chair Ross McClain\u2019s students have been participating<\/a>\u00a0in CreateAthon<\/a>, an annual nationwide campaign in which students have 24 hours to develop, design and implement a marketing campaign for a local nonprofit.<\/p>\n \u201c(Entrepreneurship and innovation) weren\u2019t coordinated by the university or championed by the university, but it was already in pockets around the university and really hidden,\u201d Herrera said. \u201cI\u2019ve either adopted student organizations that are focused on innovation or helped come alongside and give some infrastructure for a new entrepreneurship club.\u201d<\/p>\n Outside the gates, Herrera has worked to build ties with Greenville\u2019s still-fledgling but rapidly growing startup community, partnering with NEXT<\/a>and VentureSouth. NEXT\u2019s mission statement in the Upstate echoes Herrera\u2019s at Furman, while VentureSouth\u00a0<\/a>is one of the largest angel investment groups in the country.<\/p>\n Angel investors provide capital for business startups.<\/p>\n Furman\u2019s reputation for a liberal arts education is well-established, but you don\u2019t often hear Furman and startup culture in the same sentence. Contrary to perceptions, however, Herrera says Furman is perfectly poised to make a splash in that world.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen people hear innovation and entrepreneurship, there\u2019s this bias to always think tech. Silicon Valley, what\u2019s the next Amazon\/Google,\u201d he said. \u201cBut entrepreneurship can be your family-owned businesses, franchise businesses, retail, restaurants. Innovation is advancing an idea. It\u2019s problem-solving. It\u2019s dealing with ambiguity, all these characteristics or themes that are taught and developed at a liberal arts university. That education model lends itself really well to innovation, so I think Furman\u2019s well-positioned from the innovation standpoint to be a leader in developing innovative leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n