- Leading Educators Aim to Prepare African-Americans to be Entrepreneurs
- Competition Pits Colleges and Universities for Scholarship Money
ATLANTA, April 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Preparing young African-American men and
women for entrepreneur careers is the focus of the OFC Venture Challenge and
National Policy Forum to be held in Atlanta, April 6-9 at the Omni Hotel-CNN
Center.
In its sixth year, the OFC Venture Challenge will feature MBA students
from 18 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Dean and
Faculty members from more than 40 HBCUs from across the country in a business
competition, as well as Dean/Faculty Seminar. Approximately $37,000 in
scholarship awards will be presented to student winners and faculty advisors.
"The student competition is giving our brightest MBA students and HBCUs
the opportunity to showcase their talents and education in a format that
judges their abilities as entrepreneurs," said Ike Harris, President of
BellSouth Advertising & Publishing and Chair of the Minority Entrepreneurship
Education, Inc., host of the competition. "The competition is unique in its
efforts to bring MBA students from HBCUs together for a competition that is
certain to give them needed experience prior to beginning their business
careers."
The business plan competition winner will move on to participate in an
International competition sponsored by the University of Texas-Austin. For
more information on the OFC Venture Challenge and its sponsors, please visit
the OFC web site at http://www.ofcvc.org.
INAUGURAL POLICY FORUM TO BE HELD IN ATLANTA
Minority Entrepreneurship Education, Inc. will also host an inaugural
National Policy Forum on Minority Entrepreneurship Education. The purpose of
the forum is to bring academic, business, foundation, entrepreneurial,
government and other leaders together to help further the call for more
entrepreneurial education in HBCUs across the country.
The policy forum will take place Saturday, April 8, from 1-5 p.m. EDT and
is open to media. Participants in the policy forum will include 20 university
presidents, including 15 HBCUs; Dartmouth College; and the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill. Additionally, senior federal government officials,
corporate CEOs and VPs, as well as Foundation presidents will participate.
The Kauffman Foundation will lead the panel discussion.
"In hosting this policy forum, we are taking the next step in ensuring our
future African-American business leaders have the skills and education needed
to compete in an ever-changing business world. Taking our policy forum
findings to education and government leaders will be an important step in
seeing that entrepreneur programs in our HBCUs continue to grow in the years
to come," Harris said.
For more information, media interviews or to attend the panel, please
contact Ed Patterson with BellSouth Media Relations at 404-213-3106 or Dr.
Mohammad Bhuiyan at 404-441-7881.
Participating Colleges and Universities:
Alabama A&M Univ. (Normal, AL) Albany State Univ. (Albany, GA)
Alcorn State Univ. (Alcorn, MS) Bowie State Univ. (Bowie, MD)
Claflin Univ. (Orangeburg, SC) Clark Atlanta Univ. (Atlanta, GA)
Delaware State Univ. (Dover, DE) Fayetteville State Univ.
(Fayetteville, NC)
Florida A&M Univ. (Tallahassee, FL) Hampton Univ. (Hampton, VA)
Howard Univ. (Washington, DC) Jackson State Univ. (Jackson, MS)
Kentucky State Univ. (Frankfurt, KY) Langston Univ. (Langston, OK)
Lincoln Missouri Univ. Mississippi Valley State Univ.
(Jefferson City, MO) (Itta Bena, MS)
Morgan State Univ. (Baltimore, MD) North Carolina A&T Univ.
(Greensboro, NC)
North Carolina Central Univ. Prairie View A&M Univ.
(Durham, NC) (Prairie View, TX)
South Carolina State Univ. Tennessee State Univ.
(Orangeburg, SC) (Nashville, TN)
Texas Southern Univ. (Houston, TX) University of DC (Washington, DC)
University of Virgin Islands University of West Indies
(Virgin Islands) (Kingston, Jamaica)
Winston-Salem State Univ.
(Winston-Salem, NC)
About Minority Entrepreneurship Education, Inc. (MEE) and the OFC Venture
Challenge
MEE is a not-for-profit organization committed to promote entrepreneurship
among minority communities and to help Historically Black Colleges and
Universities (HBCUs) to develop a comprehensive entrepreneurship curriculum
integral in preparing young African-American men and women to become
entrepreneurs. The program also aims to stimulate student interest in
entrepreneurship and to give them the experience of conceiving business
ventures and preparing business plans.
The Opportunity Funding Corporation (OFC) is a not-for-profit corporation
which was created in 1970 to facilitate the ownership of for-profit business
entities by minorities and other disadvantaged persons through provision of
investment capital. OFC, by utilizing guarantees, direct loans and equity
investments, has generated in excess of $66 million in capital for over 184
minority owned companies in 35 states
About Ike Harris, Chair of MEE
Isaiah "Ike" Harris is President of BellSouth's Advertising and Publishing
Group. Mr. Harris resides on the board of YELLOWPAGES.COM, a recent
acquisition of BellSouth that serves as BellSouth's online directory yellow
page site, and is co-chairman of BellSouth's Diversity Council. Harris has
also served as President-BellSouth and President of BellSouth Consumer
Services. He joined BellSouth in 1997 as BellSouth Telecommunications' Chief
Financial Officer, and assumed the role of Corporate VP of Finance.
A native of West Memphis, Arkansas, Mr. Harris holds a Bachelor of Science
degree from Iowa State University and is a Certified Public Accountant, and
has completed the University of Minnesota Executive MBA program. Mr. Harris
previously held the position of Vice President and Corporate Controller of
SUPERVALU, INC., and spent 13 years with KPMG Peat Marwick. Mr. Harris spent
eight years as a professional football player with the then St. Louis
Cardinals and the New Orleans Saints. Mr. Harris' current professional
affiliations include board membership at Deluxe Corporation, Cigna
Corporation, Henry W. Grady Foundation and the Iowa State University
Foundation Board of Governors. Mr. Harris serves the United Way of
Metropolitan Atlanta Finance Committee, and OFC Venture Challenge. He is also
a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the
Minnesota Society of CPAs.
SOURCE Minority Entrepreneurship Education, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.bellsouth.com
http://www.ofcvc.org
Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/095650.html
CONTACT:
Ed Patterson of BellSouth Media Relations,
+1-404-213-3106, or ed.patterson@bellsouth.com; or Dr. Mohammad
Bhuiyan of Minority Entrepreneurship Education, Inc.,
+1-404-441-7881, or ofcvc@hotmail.com
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