So you thought that going to business school was all you needed. Were you wrong.
If you weren’t taking entrepreneurial classes along with accounting and marketing, your education may have been lacking, according to a recent study conducted by the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Business and Public Administration and by the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. The study showed that alumni from entrepreneurship education programs start more new businesses, develop more products and are more likely to be involved in high-tech endeavors than their less educated peers.
The study looked at 2,484 Eller College alumni, including 460 who were graduates of the Berger Entrepreneurship Program, and found entrepreneurial graduates:
- Are three times more likely to start a new business. When personal and environmental issues were factored out, the study found “entrepreneurship education increased the probability of being instrumentally involved in a new business venture by 25 percent.”
- Are three times more likely to be self-employed. They are more likely to be employed full time and less likely to work for the government or nonprofit organizations.
- Have incomes that are 27 percent higher and own 62 percent more assets.
- Are more satisfied with their jobs.
Many entrepreneurs may be self-made successes, but at least a few of them got some educational help along the way.
Daniel G. Jacobs
