{"id":2102,"date":"2009-11-20T16:50:19","date_gmt":"2009-11-20T21:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=2102"},"modified":"2010-10-26T14:08:53","modified_gmt":"2010-10-26T18:08:53","slug":"clarence-e-harris-entrepreneurship-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2009\/11\/clarence-e-harris-entrepreneurship-forum\/","title":{"rendered":"Students inspired at 14th annual entrepreneurship forum"},"content":{"rendered":"

UTC Executive MBA alumnus and CreateHere Co-Founder and Creative Strategist Josh McManus addressed more than 500 business students with a clear, challenging message, \u201cdo something big and do it with all that you have.\u00a0\u00a0 By taking risks and embracing failure, you\u2019ll understand your potential, your gifts, and your abilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\"Josh\n

As the keynote speaker of the 14th annual Clarence E. Harris Entrepreneurial Forum, McManus told the group he uses his degree from UTC every day.\u00a0 \u201cThe balance of theory and practical application serves me very well in my job of making Chattanooga better,\u201d McManus said.<\/p>\n

The 2009 forum tied UTC students to millions of young people in dozens of countries worldwide as they participate in Global Entrepreneurship Week, a time to encourage youth to think big, turn their ideas into reality, and make their mark. Small businesses\u2014created and operated by entrepreneurs\u2014are driving growth in the American economy, and President Barack Obama has said that small businesses are responsible for half of the nation\u2019s private sector jobs.<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s UTC forum generated an interesting exchange in a breakout session, when young women who are students in the College of Business heard from a group of women who own businesses locally.\u00a0 \u201cWe are repeating this session,\u201d said Dr. Rich Becherer, who holds the Clarence E. Harris Chair of Excellence in Business Administration.\u00a0 \u201cWe want students to think about the glass ceiling and one of the reasons women become entrepreneurs in the first place, for a more flexible schedule to accommodate family life.\u00a0 Then there is the issue of what happens when a woman\u2019s business succeeds, she is making more money than her husband, and the duties they assume around the house change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adelia Mosley, Real Estate Partners Chattanooga LLC, Lynne Goodman, Office Coordinators, Inc. and Merri Mai Williamson, Application Researchers, LLC, guided this year\u2019s discussion from the female perspective.<\/p>\n

Becherer called CreateHere a \u201cbest practices social entrepreneurship model.\u201d\u00a0 Becherer has known McManus since his undergraduate days and as an EMBA student, Becherer said he was \u201ca visionary.\u00a0 You could tell when Josh was in class he would set the world on fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

CreateHere\u2019s social entrepreneurship mission strives to grow Chattanooga\u2019s cultural economy through arts, economic and cultural development initiatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn short, that means that I think and work just like a start-up entrepreneur but I\u2019m driven by a bottom line that is not monetary.\u00a0 My bottom-line is a better community,\u201d McManus said.<\/p>\n

CreateHere is behind the community visioning effort Stand, which collected more than 26,000 responses to a four-question survey.\u00a0 It is the world\u2019s largest community visioning survey.\u00a0 CreateHere, a non-profit based in Chattanooga, was formed in 2007 \u201cas an experiment in harnessing the economic potential of creative individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n

McManus admitted to the students what his resume did not reflect:\u00a0 that he had failed on several levels, in business and in his personal life, but that he had learned from his mistakes.\u00a0 He had some advice for them, including:<\/p>\n