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National Media Spotlights Belmont's Entrepeneurship Program

The Associated Press featured Belmont University's comprehensive business program in entrepreneurship in a story that's being published by news outlets from Florida to Canada this week.

Here's an excerpt:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Kevin Alexandroni is studying to get a business degree at Belmont University, but his future isn't in corporate finance - it's in preparing kosher food for weddings.

Alexandroni, whose business, Sova Catering, pays his tuition, is part of a growing number of students across the nation who attend college to learn practical skills in launching and running a small business.

"Most business classes assume that you'll work in corporate America," said Alexandroni, 30, a former officer in the Israeli Defense Force. "But if you're going to open your own business, a class in corporate financing isn't relevant."

Four years after he started a restaurant called "Le Courouge," or "The Redneck," an experiment in what he calls "French-Southern fusion," Alexandroni realized he needed the entrepreneurial skills to match his cooking talents.

"Belmont's program gives me bootstrapping tools and experience in the day-to-day things I need to survive," he said.

Dr. Jeffrey R. Cornwall, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at Belmont, said the program's emphasis reflects a fundamental change in the nation's economy.

"In the last 20 years, there's been a net job loss at Fortune 500 companies," he said. "Yet we've had a significant increase in the number of jobs nationwide because most new jobs come from companies with less than 500 employees."

Small businesses — those with 500 workers or fewer — represent the majority of all companies, the U.S. Small Business Administration reported.

Small firms create 60 to 80 percent of net new jobs each year. Such companies are also innovative, producing as much as 14 times the number of patents per employee as large companies.

There were about 23 million businesses in the United States in 2002. Two-thirds of new firms survive at least two years and about half survive at least four years, the government agency said.

"Change and chaos create opportunities," Cornwall said. "Belmont's program is designed to give students the tools needed to start and run successful enterprises. I'm not here to train merchants."

The story has run in the print and online edition of the Toronto Globe & Mail, and on the online versions of several newspapers including the Knoxville News Sentinel, the Durham, N.C. Herald-Sun, and the Wilmington, N.C, Morning Star , the Detroit Free Press, the Raleigh News, the Charlotte Observer and the Sarasota, Fla., Herald-Tribune.

Posted by the Office of University Marketing & Communications, April 5, 2004

    Belmont University's fast-growing community of about 4,000 students comes from nearly every state and more than 25 countries. Belmont is committed to premier teaching with a focus on success in the real world. Our purpose is to help students explore their passions and develop their talents to meet the world's needs. With more than 50 areas of study, eight master's degrees and two doctoral degrees, there is no limit to the ways Belmont University can expand an individual's horizon.

    Office of Marketing and Communications
    615.460.6645 Greg Pillon
    615.460.6646 Bill Hobbs

    Belmont University
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    Nashville, Tennessee 37212
    615.460.6000
    www.belmont.edu