Susan Scherreik Shares Advice for Young Entrepreneurs

Steve Adubato talks with Founder and Director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Seton Hall University, Susan Scherreik, who discusses the Hall's Pirate Pitch Competition and shares her advice for entrepreneurs on how to grow and expand their business in today’s economy.

3/24/17 #2022

 

 

 

 

Excerpt:

"We are pleased to welcome for the first time here on public television with us Susan Scherreik who is the founding director, center for entrepreneurial studies. Stillman School of Business at the great Seton Hall University. How you doing? I'm doing great Steve. Thank you so much for inviting me. I'm so delighted to be here today. It's our pleasure. Describe the center for entrepreneurial studies and the essence of being an entrepreneur. Well, we started our center, Steve, in 2003. We'd gotten a one million dollar endowment from an entrepreneur alum and fast forward to today, we have 18 courses in entrepreneurship. We have 2 entrepreneurship business contests. We have an entrepreneur hall of fame dinner in which we induct successful alumni entrepreneurs into that. We award a student or young alum an emerging entrepreneur award. We have about 50 entrepreneurs coming to campus every year to hang out with our students. Sure. And share their knowledge. The essence of an entrepreneur? Can Do. Dream it, Do it. It's an empowerment. We have alumni entrepreneurs who are sharing their knowledge with our student entrepreneurs and, Steve, I have to tell you, I've been doing this now about 13 years. The last two years, I have been totally blown away by what I can only term "The Shark Tank Generation". "The Shark Tank Generation"? What do you mean by that? Well, as we all know, the popular show "Shark Tank". Yes. And there's many shows that are like that. Yep. Students today, they want to be entrepreneurs. They want to change the world. Sure, they want to make money. Everybody does. You want to get a good job after college, but more than that, they have passion. They see something that needs fixing in the world either on a social entrepreneurship level which is solving a problem in the community or they want to create a product or a service and they feel very empowered to do that. You see that. Unbelievable. Any difference between young men and young women in this regard or all across the board you see it? Well, typically, there are more young men and just men in general who are entrepreneurs. There are fewer women. I have to tell you. The teens and the young adults and people in their 20s who are coming up the ranks. I don't see that much difference. You don't? With the ones who are really running businesses. Now I do see a difference in that some young women are more hesitant to get involved in entrepreneurship and I have to tell you, I just... I ride them pretty hard. I say "get out there. Do your idea. You're just as good as anyone else..."