LaunchPad opens for student entrepreneurs at Wayne State

The Blackstone LaunchPad is starting to take off at Wayne State University, where the new small business incubator has opened its doors to college students interested in being their own boss.

"Jobs for university graduates in the future will be jobs of their own creation," says Bill Volz, executive director of the Blackstone LaunchPad at Wayne State University. "They will be making a job instead of taking a job."

The Blackstone Charitable Foundation invested $2 million to establish a LaunchPad program at Wayne State University and Walsh College. The program helps everyday students harness their entrepreneurial ambitions and create the companies and jobs that will carry the region into the 21st Century. Wayne State University's LaunchPad is located in the entrance to the David Adamny Undergraduate Library, 5150 Anthony Wayne.

The doors are open, but the program is going through a soft launch. It plans to for a formal launch on Nov. 9 where it will announce itself to the university community and surrounding neighborhoods. A handful of students have already come through the LaunchPad, which expects to provide business counseling services to about 500 during this academic year. The program helps students refine their idea, provides business coaching and mentors and make the business a realty.

"This is a career service that develops student entrepreneurs," Volz says.

Source: Bill Volz, executive director of the Blackstone LaunchPad at Wayne State University
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.