Graduate Entrepreneurship Certificate

This 12-credit hour certificate will help current graduate students in all majors and post-baccalaureate students learn and apply the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and business with an eye toward the creation of their own for-profit, non-profit, or social ventures. The certificate builds on the faculty and resources which underpin the Chaifetz School’s MBA Entrepreneurship Concentration, currently ranked 13^th in the county by US News and Entrepreneur/Princeton Review (and with top-25 rankings stretching back to 1994).

The program can be completed in as little as one academic year and has no additional prerequisites needed for students coming from outside the business school. The course sequence and descriptions details given at the bottom of this page.

BENEFITS

• • SLU Grad Students: This program will add a certificate and important business skills to your major.

  • I-Corps/SLUstart: The certificate will help you build your startup and business skills beyond what you've learned using the I-corps lean startup methodology.

  • For Graduating SLU International Students: The program can justify the extension of their student visas.

  • For Students Likely To Be Self-Employed: Students who are training in occupations or professional areas where there is a significant chance of pursuing self-employment (e.g. 75% of health practitioners are self-employed, 70% of artists, 67% of entertainers, 58% of dentists, 46% of authors), the certificate can teach you the basics of running your own professional or artistic business.

ADMISSIONS PROCESS: Contact the Academic Programs Office in the Chaifetz School for details.

PROGRAM DETAILS

Fall Semester Courses

· MGT6200 an introduction to entrepreneurship with a focus on management, marketing and human resource issues. Taught in the Fall semester.

· BIZ6401 Business Model Design with Lean Canvas, which will help students generate, test and adjust their ideas for new products and services.

· BIZ6402 Business Simulation, which will use a business startup simulation to teach the fundamentals of business operations and thinking, as well as using accounting measures to understand the business.

· BIZ6403 Due Diligence, where students will analyze business plans, pitch decks and financial statements to identify potential problems in startups as well as what makes for the most promising businesses.

Spring Semester Courses

· MGT62XX A course in managing resources – with startup-specific focus on finance, accounting, and legal issues. Taught in the Spring semester.

· MGT6210 A capstone course focused on the creation of a professional-quality business plan, or the actual launch of the business based on a screener plan (Executive Summary and Full Financials) with gradable outcomes arranged by contract.