Education Never Stops For L.A.'s Successful Entrepreneurs
The greater Los Angeles region has long been a seduction zone for innovative thinkers to collaborate and discover emerging worlds of ingenious engagement. Many tech-savvy minds are not crowding into classroom settings with burning desires to pull a nine-to-five at established companies. These ambitious entrepreneurs want to learn how to launch their own industrious, consumer-driven enterprises.
"They are taking telecom and Internet technologies up to the next level," said Lois M. Shelton, an associate professor in the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics at California State University, Northridge (CSUN). "By creating new companies focused on products and services for new customer groups, entrepreneurs are driving a whole new cycle of growth in the Los Angeles technological ecosystem."
How has tech-related entrepreneurship progressed in recent years?
"Since 2012, the need for tech-savvy entrepreneurs has skyrocketed. These entrepreneurs are catalysts driving a virtuous circle of growth in which the success of earlier startups has created more opportunities and capital, which, in turn, creates more successful ventures."
How will an entrepreneur's role change by 2022?
"As the growing popularity of socially oriented entrepreneurship suggests, entrepreneurs will employ their visionary and organizational skills to realms beyond business, including the public sector and important social and cultural issues. I see a future in which the entrepreneurial mindset will be used to tackle major challenges across the human experience."
How can entrepreneurs fortify sustainable careers?
"Successful entrepreneurs make learning a way of life, and utilize resources inside and outside the classroom to learn business operations team-building, networking, calculated risk-taking, and the process of identifying opportunities where their capabilities intersect with customer needs. Then they consistently commit to excellence."
How is CSUN helping entrepreneurs to succeed?
"We provide them with business fundamentals and hands-on experiences to help them leverage their technical knowledge more effectively. This prepares them for all facets of the entrepreneurial experience."
What is your message to endeavoring entrepreneurs?
"I encourage them to build a solid foundation, then reach for their dreams. They must always remember to keep their eyes on the prize so they can see and move beyond the inevitable setbacks and disappointments."
Sharon Raiford Bush is an award-winning journalist who covers topics of social interest in greater Los Angeles. Some news articles she has authored have been archived by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. Sharon also contributes to Examiner.com.
