Summit, a “joint collaboration”
This semester’s Third Entrepreneurship Summit was a joint collaboration among students and professors from the Business, English, Modern Languages, Early Childhood Education and Speech departments, along with the Writing and Literature Program.

“As professors, we worked together with the students for two months in order to conduct the research and to deliver the presentations,” said Business Professor Carmen Martinez-Lopez, who helped coordinate the summit with a team of more than 400 BMCC staffers, professors and students. “The students did a great job with their PowerPoints, poems and essay presentations,” she said.

BMCC’s got the “fever”—business fever
When the college celebrated its Third Entrepreneur Summit on Tuesday, April 21, in the Richard Harris Terrace, students took the stage with pride—acting as interviewers, moderators and lecturers, proving they are ready to take on the ‘real-world’ of business upon graduation.The general message of the summit was that even in today’s hard economic times, there is indeed opportunity out there for niche businesses to succeed.

Titled, Entrepreneurship: Cooperation or Competition? the morning session focused on starting a business in today’s economy, as well as presentations about business relations in countries outside the United States. The afternoon session featured a presentation of student poems and essays in Chinese, English, Italian, and Spanish.

BMCC’s Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. Marva Craig, took the stage, asking the audience, composed of mostly BMCC students of various majors, what they did when faced with a ‘door?’ “What do the letters d-o-o-r stand for?” she asked. “Don’t Overlook Opportunities—Reach!” It was the perfect acronym for the theme of the Entrepreneur Summit.

Student Interviewers Take Stage
Individual students from the Business Management Department lead a one-on-one question and answer session with a professional entrepreneur. The student interviewers were confident and poised while addressing the guest speakers, asking them questions about minorities in the job market, how to market a new company in today’s economy, and how students can make a difference.

BMCC student MaryAnn Lorick interviewed Omar Freilla, executive director of Green Worker Cooperatives in the Bronx, an organization dedicated to making the South Bronx ‘greener.’ “The biggest opportunity is really being open to the people around you,” said Freilla. “Seek out any opportunities you have.”

Lorick, a business major, thought the interview session she led was ‘fun.’ “I think communication skills are very important; and interviewing [Freilla] helped build my confidence,” she said.

Student Anthony Pichardo interviewed event planner Stacie N.C. Grant, president of C & G Enterprises. Grant, who Pichardo called “the nicest person you’ll ever meet.”Grant talked about how she learned that she can’t do it all in her business. “You have to surround yourself with people who have the same goal,” she said.

Grant said to look at competition from other companies as a positive thing—really! “Competition can be healthy—it forces you to be at your best. You can’t give sub-par service and expect customers to come back.”

She then surprised the audience by mentioning she was hiring for part-time work, if anyone was interested.

A global business and language perspective
After the student/entrepreneur interview sessions, the audience viewed PowerPoint presentations about global entrepreneurship. Students from Professors Miriam Delgado, Eva Kolbusz, Carmen Martinez-Lopez and Kerry Ruff’s businesses classes talked about cooperation and competition in Canada, China, India, England, Venezuela and the U.S.
Students from classes instructed by Professors Maria Enrico, Jianguo Ji, Alicia Perdomo, Kimberly Ray and Marguerite Rivas, then discussed poems and essays in various languages.