City leaders across the U.S. have made significant strides in economic development by embracing technology and entrepreneurship. Incubators, co-working spaces and university outreach programs helped them transform their urban neighborhoods by focusing on job creation and bringing in new talent to energize their communities.
American postsecondary education has had a role in this transformation, beginning decades ago when many began to develop educational programs to meet the needs of their aspiring student entrepreneurs. Overtime they tailored their focus to support particular groups, both social and economic, such as women and minorities—that led to them to engage with surrounding communities.
Saint Peter’s University located in an urban center, Jersey City, New Jersey, built an entrepreneurial program reflecting the multi-cultural community of the state’s second largest city. With a population of just over 260,000, the city is 35% white, 23% black, 25% Asian and 28% Hispanic/Latino, with some overlapping of the groups, according to the US Census as of 2019. This ethnic and racial makeup typifies U.S. urban centers where minorities are more concentrated within their state.
Over the past ten years Mary Kate Naatus, KPMG Dean of the Frank J. Guarini School of Business, has overseen the development of its entrepreneurship programs and its outreach to the local community. She began as a professor at Saint Peter’s and in 2014 she became the founding director of the Ignite Institute, a center of excellence focused on urban entrepreneurship and economic development.
The Institute’s inaugural partner was a local non-profit Rising Tide Capital a community-based organization that “equips talented but under-resourced individuals with the tools to create businesses that change the trajectory of their lives.” Through their joint efforts, they uncovered a large pool of entrepreneurs, many of whom were present within Saint Peter’s own student body and part of the predominantly minority and lower-income groups that Saint Peter explicitly serves.
“As we began to hold programs such as “shark tank-like” competitions it began to emerge that the students at Saint Peter’s were very entrepreneurial —running small businesses on the side while also pursuing their undergraduate degrees,” explained Naatus.
Learning quickly of the entrepreneurial leanings of the students, Naatus rolled up her sleeves to find the right mix of programs. It did not take her long to decide on a direction to go forward.
“As we found our students to be so innovative and creative, we simply began celebrating entrepreneurship as a means to encourage them. Our next step was to connect them to seed funding and training opportunities so they could grow their businesses into a revenue generator for the future,” Naatus said.
Having a student body with such an entrepreneurial mindset, the University extended the Ignite Institute’s initiative to include a social impact program. With grant funding from The Provident Bank Foundation in 2019, approximately twenty-five local non-profits and socially impactful small businesses became a client of an assigned student who for ten weeks worked on projects directly benefitting both the organization and the student.
“Many of our students gain experience that leads to other internships or full time jobs, while earning a small stipend. The small businesses gain energy from young people, as well as insight from the project. We have a lot of success stories to share from this program,” says Naatus.
One critical part of the program is the mentoring that the students receive, exposing them to a type of resource they can take into their careers. Outside classroom assignments give them direct engagement with entrepreneur, an approach called “experiential learning” that many universities take to broaden their students’ skills, while in an academic setting.
In the coming fall the University will be opening a social impact Incubator for the students to have a place to gather and community members will have access to services and facilities, as well as the students—a melding of the University’s commitment to entrepreneurship and the economic development of the local community.
“Over time we anticipate contributing thought leadership and scholarly research as we grow and also engage with the local community,” Naatus explains.
While Saint Peter’s evolved, so did Jersey City as a whole—that now includes a robust business district. Led by Mayor Steven Fulop, the city has blossomed in the tech arena, taking advantage of its proximity to Wall Street—a ferry ride across the river. Now viewed as a tech hub—with a lot of fintech happening— the ecosystem is strengthening further through the influx of corporate and residential tenants and outside capital.
Similar stories are playing out across the U.S., according to Marlon Evans, CEO of the early-stage innovator and investor partner Nex Cubed. He believes that there are key elements that move a city forward in its economic development that benefits all of its residents.
“Urban centers across the U.S. are home to some of the most innovative companies in the world. With a tremendous amount of talent operating in such close proximity, urban centers are well positioned to provide aspiring entrepreneurs with the 3 Cs critical to the success of any new business: Community (mentorship and technical assistance); Customers (enterprise and consumer); and Capital (debt and equity investments).”
Saint Peter’s approach to teaching entrepreneurship in an urban center contributes well to the health of the city’s ecosystem that fosters economic development for the benefit of its citizens. They fulfill their mission to provide their students with the skills and experience necessary to enter the business world, while doing outreach to the local community. For those who truly aspire to be entrepreneurs, they work hard to place them within reach of the “3 C’s” that are critical for entrepreneurial success.
Photo: Caption: Recent finalists of Saint Peter’s University’s annual Shark Tank-like competition having student pitch business plans to panel of experts.
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