Your ideas in this professor’s class could become real as far away as Africa.
As Director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies in the College of Business, Professor Jerman Rose understands the challenges that arise as innovations are brought to market. His cross-disciplinary entrepreneurship course, co-taught with professors in business and engineering, gives students hands-on experience in applying business principles to engineering innovations.
Creating a product for Africa
Inspired by Rose’s course, four 2006 graduates, Jeff Evans (business administration, entrepreneurship), Dan Good (mechanical engineering), Kyle Kraemer, and Travis Meyer (both bioengineering), took their business plan for a low-cost, scalable treadle pump to farmers in the central African country of Malawi. Benefits from this project will include a profitable business for Malawians and increased crop yields that provide food and income for family needs.
"Teaching this course was a tremendous challenge and opportunity for growth for both the students and for us as teachers,” says Rose. “We were all pushed and stretched in many directions, and in the end I think we accomplished our mission of providing a unique opportunity to develop skills and communication across the ‘disciplinary divide.’" The result is WSU students making a lasting difference in people’s lives.
On to Rwanda
Professor Rose is busy exploring new entrepreneurship opportunities for future students, and recently traveled to Rwanda with three WSU students to assist in efforts to extend Internet access to rural African villages and aid local entrepreneurs in their efforts to set up a telecenter supporting the Maraba coffee cooperative. Rose is currently working with the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology in Rwanda to develop internships in which business students will evaluate the business plans of local entrepreneurs.
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