3A - Entrepreneurship Story

Last summer my entrepreneurship story started when I enrolled in the EESA program with the University of Florida. I traveled to Africa to work with entrepreneurs In the townships of Cape Town, South Africa. I was on a team with four other students from University of Colorado, University of Western Cape, and Texas A&M. We collaborated with two entrepreneurs within the area. Nozie, one of our entrepreneurs, owned a catering company and a storefront business. Sibulele, the other entrepreneur, had a transportation business and a catering business and was struggling to make any profit. This is one of the most amazing experiences that I have ever had because I was able to actually make a difference by consulting with these entrepreneurs. Within six weeks we changed the direction of their businesses in order to make a profit and support their living. In South Africa I learned that entrepreneurship does not come innately. It takes a lot of effort and a lot of learning to become a good entrepreneur,  but with passion anybody can start a business. My professor in South Africa, Dr. Morris, works within the School of Entrepreneurship at the University of Florida. I feel like I found a lifelong mentor in him because he had such amazing ideas and such a big heart. I had went on this journey because I was enrolled in a business minor, but Dr. Morris and this program convinced me to change my mind and enroll in entrepreneurship. I found that entrepreneurship is much more applicable to chemical engineering major because hopefully at some point in my life I’ll be able to start my own company with my own ideas. Entrepreneurship is so much more than a major, it’s a lifestyle.