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While the seminar is geared toward women, all were welcome to attend. Sheng Xi Chen/Staff Photographer[/caption]
Seton Hall participated in the international event Women Entrepreneurship Week, started by Montclair State University in 2013, on Oct. 20 in Walsh Library.
A panel of speakers addressed women’s issues in entrepreneurship and the different challenges that they may face in the field.
Director of Entrepreneurial Studies Susan Scherreik said one of the main themes of the seminar is how to get started in the business field.
Men and women can face the same issues and challenges but women are less likely to get bank funding than men, making it harder to start their business, Scherreik said.
While the seminar is geared toward women, all were welcome. It covers all issues that come with entrepreneurship, Scherreik added.
Entrepreneurship has become popular, especially for millennials. According to a survey done by BNP Paribas Entrepreneur Report 2016, millennials younger than 35-years old “are creating more companies, with higher headcount, and greater profit ambitions.”
The record also stated that women are proving to be more successful in business than their male counterparts with 89 percent of women-run businesses with expected growth or stable profits for the next 12 months.
Earlene Cruz (‘14), founder and CEO of Kitchen Connection, addressed the issues women and minorities face in entrepreneurship and how to overcome these obstacles. Cruz added that it is important when starting a business to know how to bring skills that you don’t have to your business.
This is why Maura Kolkmeyer (‘12) founder of Sitterly, a website where students can find babysitting jobs, thinks that college is the best time to start a business.
“College comes with less pressure, having no mortgages or kids and you are surrounded by endless resources,” Kolkmeyer said. She added that students need to take advantage of the resources available to them.
Seton Hall offers many opportunities for mentorship and growth in this field.
Programs like Pirates Pitch, a business idea competition with cash prizes available, and U-Pitch, New Jersey’s collegiate business model competition, put students in a position to learn more about business and make them aware of what they are capable of in the field.
Evelyn Peregrin can be reached at evelyn.peregrin@student.shu.edu.
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