Creating Interdisciplinary Entrepreneurship Centers

Adaptation of a presentation at the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Summer Institute at Howard University, June 16, 2005

I approach entrepreneurship through the lens of an attorney trained in economics and passionate about entrepreneurship.

I founded the National Institute for Urban Entrepreneurship and officially incorporated it in August 2003 as a nonprofit Washington, DC corporation. NIUE received its 501(c)3 status in January 2004. Its purpose is to develop and implement legal and entrepreneurship programs that support the growth of viable, sustainable businesses by Blacks, Latinos, and other entrepreneurs of color.

NIUE is an outgrowth of work done in Chicago with the IJ Clinic on Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago Law School in 1998. That program still exists and has served hundreds of entrepreneurs and students over the past seven years. The program grew from 10 volunteering law students serving a dozen entrepreneurs in 1998 to as many as 20 law students receiving credit, 50 volunteering business students, and dozens of entrepreneurs in recent years.

In 2002, I relocated to Washington with the idea of creating other programs nationally. I began early on discussing ideas with the law school at Howard University and in 2003, the stars began to line up ... or maybe it was, as Frederick Douglass once said, “a matter of loyalty, honor, and patriotism” that three separate entities would pursue an entrepreneurship track at Howard University.

Entrepreneurship at Howard University

NIUE approached the law school to develop a clinical program, similar to the one created at Chicago, to train law and business students on legal/business issues affecting entrepreneurs. The idea was fairly simple: Create a center at the law school that could serve as a training ground on an assortment of issues; have a co-requisite course taught at the law school; and host a healthy dose of outreach for students to interact with the entrepreneurial community.

At the same time, the Business and Entrepreneurs Law Association (BELA), a student organization created by Charles Jones, was advocating at the grassroots level for an entrepreneurship program. Their networking and communicating efforts have been instrumental in raising students’ awareness of entrepreneurship.

Also, Howard’s Business School, the deans, and President Patrick Swygert were developing the path-breaking Institute for Entrepreneurship, Leadership, and Innovation (ELI Institute) and successfully gained the support of Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

In conjunction with ELI, the various disciplines are developing strategic alliances to create a Howard University Interdisciplinary Law and Entrepreneurship Center. HULEC would have a fourfold mission:

• provide high-quality legal and business representation to aspiring entrepreneurs and small business;

• educate, train, and inspire students to achieve positions of leadership in the fields of law, entrepreneurship, and business;

• assist entrepreneurs and small businesses in identifying and overcoming barriers to honest enterprise; and

• navigate entrepreneurs and small businesses through the regulatory process nationally.

How to Proceed

An entrepreneurship center must choose which subject areas it will cover. I recommend you look to your local community to learn what would be unique in your university and helpful to the clients you will serve.

In business, you might consider business planning, marketing, and sales; strategic planning; supply chain management; organizational development; raising capital; e-commerce. In law, topics could include the theory of entrepreneurship and a survey of such subjects as business formation, basic taxation, licensing and permits, intellectual property, employment law, real estate and leasing, and contracts.

I use various teaching methods to create a genuinely interesting environment for learning. One class might be built on the case method. Last year, we used the Harvard Business case about several classmates who want to start an ice cream business. Another class would be a team-focused approach, with students taking on hypothetical matters and then negotiating with classmates or creating a win/win contract.

I have had students develop presentations based on the survey portion of the course on a single topic (say, obtaining a copyright) and present it to a group of entrepreneurs. Outreach is always exciting and students love it. They get to be onsite at the entrepreneur’s location. I don’t believe an attorney or business person can do an effective job without seeing the client in his or her business location.

Ideally, you will have lead time of about one year to launch a successful class and clinical program. You may need to get faculty approvals, develop the curriculum/syllabus, ensure student participation, raise funds for the program, and address all of the logistics.

We will have to become more creative about fundraising as these programs become more popular around the country. It’s always great if you receive a grant, but if you do not, consider fundraising activities with alumni, administrative fees for entrepreneurs receiving a service, activity fees to cover events, and products or services that could be offered to help offset the cost of the program. Your budget will depend on the number of staff, whether the program is full-time or part-time, whether you will need to pay rent, and more.

When I served as founding director of the Clinic on Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago, our thinking was partly ideological, in that we believed in the pursuit of economic liberty. Economic liberty is a function of free will and the resulting freedom to act in the area of your profession, career, or service. It is the right to earn an honest living, as long as you are not hurting anyone.

Everything you need to begin, begins with you.

Patricia H. Lee, Esq. (niue@comcast.net) is president and general counsel of the National Institute for Urban Entrepreneurship.