Entrepreneurial Spirit

MSUM certificate program helps local entrepreneur with start-up business

By Kristi Monson, Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications, Minnesota State University Moorhead

Photography by Ande Sailer, Minnesota State University Moorhead

According to Inc. Magazine, a resource for small businesses, some of the best industries for starting a small business are related to green construction, computer systems, digital forensic services and mHealth—the intersection of mobile and health care. The key to success in any industry is not only competitive technical expertise and creative marketing savvy, but an entrepreneurial spirit that embraces innovation, service and continuous improvement.

Minnesota State University Moorhead sees the potential for growing the entrepreneurial spirit explosion in the Fargo-Moorhead area, but is also responding to employers who say they want to hire people who have excellent technical skills and a solid understanding of the business environment in which they operate. MSUM’s new minor and a certificate in entrepreneurship meet those needs.

“The certificate program in entrepreneurship is available to anyone in the community, while the minor is well suited to enrolled students,” said Marsha Weber, MSUM’s dean of Business and Innovation. “It is tailored to people who do not have prior business training or knowledge.”

The five-course, 15-credit program offers a top-level introduction to the fundamentals of management and entrepreneurship. Courses focus on business and venture initiation, finance, management and marketing essentials.

“We are working with faculty in departments across campus to create an entrepreneurship minor specific to their needs,” Weber said. “They will take the same three entrepreneurship classes but will also take other courses to help them understand the business environment in which they will be working.”

Chris Orth has over a decade of manufacturing experience and knew he wanted to pursue a small business opportunity. The entrepreneurship certificate met his needs.

“The program focuses on discovering your passion and finding a way to make that work as a small business opportunity,” Orth said. “Most of the work is project-based, and basically what you put into it is going to dictate what you get out of it. The neat thing for me was that it didn't have any prerequisite requirements, so I completed the program in two semesters.”

The certificate helped spur his own startup.

“I had ideas of what I wanted to do for a business venture, but I had so much fun designing the business projects (in class) that that was my ‘aha moment,’ realizing I wanted to help others design their own businesses,” Orth said.

He is taking his manufacturing, designing, planning and building experience and transitioning into DIG Your Business, a venture to help other entrepreneurs find a unique business model that will work for them. (DIG is an acronym for design, innovate and grow.) Learn more about this local entrepreneur’s business at digyourbusiness.com.

“We strive to teach creativity, innovation and design in a practical application whereby students with a liberal arts degree can find new jobs, take advantage of opportunities and maximize them,” Meyer said.

“I would absolutely recommend this entrepreneurship certificate to other would-be entrepreneurs,” Orth said. “I haven't found else anything quite like it.”