Oberlin College's Creativity & Leadership Project is a multi-disciplinary effort designed to provide students with opportunities to put their innovative ideas into practice. Open to students of any major or career aspiration, the project helps to prepare students for the challenges of implementing their own ideas through new semester and module courses, concept-development funding, mentored experiential opportunities, workshops, internships, and lectures by alumni and practitioners in northeast Ohio and beyond.
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Oberlin’s Entrepreneurship Symposium celebrates the launch of the Creativity & Leadership project by creating a forum in which to define and explore entrepreneurship in a liberal arts setting. The symposium is designed to provoke dialogue among students, faculty, and alumni, and to introduce students to a network of student, faculty, alumni, and regional entrepreneurs and advocates.

INVENTING THE FUTURE will explore entrepreneurship within the fields of finance, the environment, the arts, and social enterprise, as well as the intersections among market, social, civic, and arts entrepreneurship. The symposium will feature keynote speakers and panelists, and provide opportunities for all participants to meet informally to share their own entrepreneurial ideas and ventures.

Last January the Oberlin Connect Entrepreneurship Scholars attended workshops, lectures, shadowing days, and networking sessions with leading Oberlin alumni entrepreneurs and other professionals in Washington DC, Chicago, Cleveland, and New York City. The six scholars had the opportunity to learn about launching ventures in a variety of fields while engaging personally with dynamic entrepreneurs.

The speakers ranged in background from for-profit entrepreneurs to leading social innovators. John Gorman ('90) gave the scholars an in-depth view of the challenges of running his successful company, Gorman Health Group. Daniel Rosenblum ('82) from the Japan Society introduced an inspiring session with MacArthur Fellow and leading social entrepreneur Rosanne Haggerty. Noel Tieszen ('97), Executive Director of Interstages, gave students an invaluable look into the process of starting an innovative non-profit in a highly challenging environment.

The Entrepreneurship Scholars joined the concurrently running Business Scholars program a various points during the month for events and lectures including a visit to Chicago to meet with John Rogers, CEO of Ariel Capital Management and environmental leaders Sadhu Johnston ('98) and Peter Nicholson ('91). The combined group also met with local entrepreneur Pat Conway at Great Lakes Brewery.

During this busy month of traveling and networking, students also engaged in a variety of skill-building workshops and exercises. Scholars worked through case studies, interviewed local entrepreneurs, analyzed their skill sets, and learned critical presentation skills. The month-long program ended with two groups of scholars presenting their own venture ideas to an audience.

To read an article by Daniel Tam-Claiborne ('09) and Ei-Phyo Han ('11) on their interview with Sam Merrett ('05), owner of Full Circle Fuels in Oberlin, click here.