Winter Spring 2018 Edition NACCE_WinterSpring_2018_NonMember | Page 10

ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN ACTION
Boot Camp Helps Chinese Students
Map Future
When Kevin Chen and Effie Li graduated from Bellevue University in the spring of 2017
with bachelor’s degrees in supply chain management, they took the not-so-obvious next
step: they went to boot camp.
B
ut, instead of structured military
training, Kevin and Effie enrolled
in Entrepreneur Boot Camp offered
online through Bellevue University, which
recently became a Premier Transfer Partner
Institution for NACCE’s member community
colleges. The month-long, self-paced course
offered through the university’s College of
Continuing and Professional Education,
let Kevin and Effie, and four other Chinese
students who were part of an international
combined degree program involving Bellevue
University and Guangzhou College of
Commerce, take a deep dive into the real and
complex world of entrepreneurs.
“The course helped us organize all the
information and knowledge that goes into
being an entrepreneur so we could learn it
step by step,” said Effie. Working through four
modules, boot camp participants progress
through 19 phases, including business acumen,
communication and technology, financial
basics, marketing, and business plans.
The modules are designed with new resource
support called toolboxes, according to Jon Titus,
Bellevue’s director of Continuing Education.
“The toolbox lets us deliver very targeted,
in-depth learning content in just four weeks,
while providing participants with opportunities
to continue their learning, or go back to one of
the additional resources weeks, or even months,
after the course ends,” he said.
After successfully completing the
Entrepreneur Boot Camp in September,
Kevin and Effie have developed a business
plan for a startup that would import Chinese-
manufactured toys from their hometown of
Chenghai and the surrounding Guangdong
Province to the United States and resell the toys
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for a profit through American
e-commerce retail giants such
as Amazon, eBay, Target and
Walmart. Already, the students
are developing a prototype.
“We’ve conducted market
research to find out what kind
of toys are popular in America,”
explained Effie, adding that the
team has used the results to
narrow down the list of possible
imports.
Building Relationships
A group of the Chinese students participated in an
internship program coordinated through Project Deep at
Major Plastics, an Omaha-area manufacturing company.
Robert Anderson-Ludrick, an adjunct
professor at Bellevue University, understands
the challenges that young entrepreneurs like
Kevin and Effie face. He introduced them
to the boot camp, and started a non-profit
organization and entrepreneurial studio called
“Project Deep” to help the university’s Chinese
students obtain the internships, certification
training and business experiences needed to
reach the next level of entrepreneurial success,
while at the same time enhancing their English
language skills. “Our goal is to build win-win
business relationships between U.S. companies
and Chinese international students that are
beneficial for both parties,” said Anderson-
Ludrick.
The learning opportunities offered through
the Entrepreneur Boot Camp and through
the non-profit Project Deep are examples
of how education – especially in the area
of entrepreneurship – is evolving toward
an entrepreneurship ecosystem. According
to Rebecca Murdock, dean of Bellevue
University’s College of Business, “The concept
of the ecosystem is really based in the idea
Community College Entrepreneurship • Winter/Spring 2018
that the path to entrepreneurial success is not
linear, but instead grounded in a network
of opportunities,” she observed. Michelle
Eppler, dean of the College of Professional and
Continuing Education, which offers the boot
camp, added that that the toolboxes actually
help participants “start on a higher rung on the
startup ladder because they prepare participants
to talk knowledgeably with stakeholders from
various disciplines,” she said.
The Entrepreneur Boot Camp is just one
element of this overall ecosystem, but it’s an
important piece of the puzzle for students like
Kevin and Effie who are m