Entrepreneurship and Start-up Program

To participate in this program, participants must successfully complete the Eureka Program Research Topic 101 course before enrolling in any group or one-on-one research workshops

Entrepreneurs today need to adapt to the current business environment by embracing digital transformation, focusing on customer needs and preferences, being agile and flexible in their operations, and prioritizing sustainability and social responsibility. They should also be prepared to pivot their business models and strategies in response to changing market conditions and consumer behavior. The Eureka Entrepreneurship and Start-Up Program will equip students with the necessary tools and concepts to succeed as an entrepreneur. This program offers students the opportunity to study entrepreneurship in the aspects of - Design Thinking, Decision Making, and Economics. This program will help students to gain knowledge and understanding of various areas of entrepreneurship while developing critical thinking and analytical skills, as well as problem-solving skills.

Students in this course will consider questions such as these:

• Why do grocery stores have junk food right near the checkout? 

• Why do video streaming services start the next episode of a show automatically? 

• What is economic uncertainty?

• How does it affect families, businesses, and countries?

• How can design thinking be used to promote sustainability and social responsibility in business practices?

• Are dieters more willing to choose a healthy snack instead of an unhealthy snack if they’re given a picture of themselves eating the snack and asked to upload it to a social networking site or app?

In the area of Design and Design Thinking, students will explore how to manage complex interdisciplinary projects connecting research into people’s needs and desires with the delivery of products, services, and experiences. Students will learn how to develop creative and innovative solutions to challenges and problems in design. The human-centered design combines qualitative and quantitative research into people's lives with the application of science and technology to manage resources such as funding, materials, and infrastructure, in order to deliver innovation.

In the area of decision-making, the Behavioral Economics path will help students to learn how better decisions can be made. Behavioral economics is a field of economics that studies the behavior of individuals and institutions and how they make economic decisions. It combines insights and methods from psychology, sociology, and neuroscience to better understand how humans make economic choices, and how biases, heuristics, and social norms can affect those choices. Behavioral economists challenge traditional economic assumptions about rationality and self-interest, and instead focus on how individuals actually behave in the real world. This field has important applications in areas such as public policy, finance, marketing, and organizational behavior.

Entrepreneurial students may also wish to explore the area of Economic Uncertainty. This course will delve into how major events such as a pandemic can impact various business sectors and people's lives as a whole. This course will answer questions such as: How is uncertainty affecting various sectors such as schools, restaurants, retail stores, E-commerce, real estate, and healthcare? Or, how is uncertainty affecting different income or racial groups differently? Are there differences by gender in uncertainty effects?

Previous Alumni of the Entrepreneurship and Start-up Program have secured positions and acceptances to the following firms/programs:

• LinkedIn: Software Engineer Intern

• Goldman Sachs: Virtual Insight Series Participant

• Credit Suisse Steps to Success: Explore Program

• Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy - Research Assistant for Yale Initiative on Sustainable Finance (YISF)

• University of Chicago - Pathways in Economics (Summer Program)

• Davidson College: Research Intern for Economics Professor

• Various Investment Banking Internships

Alumni from the Eureka Entrepreneurship and Start-up Program have received admission offers to Princeton University, Yale University, Bowdoin College, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), John Hopkins University (JHU), Duke University, Dartmouth College, and many more top universities in the United States. Eureka Alumni from this program have gone off to pursue studies in Computer Science, Economics, Finance, Applied Mathematics, Data Science, and Political Science, just to name a few. 

Alumni from the Entrepreneurship and Start-up Program have been accepted to attend prestigious and selective programs such as the Wharton Global Youth Program - Leadership in the Business World Program, University of Chicago - Pathways in Economics Program, and the Brown University X+VR Summer Program. Many students from this program have also participated in prestigious competitions, such as the Harvard Debate Tournament, iGEM Competition, and the Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS). 

In addition, we are proud to see students from this program actively participating in the community,  volunteering where possible.  Several of our students have founded non-profit organizations to help their local community. Two siblings who attended this program have started a non-profit organization helping to promote cultural awareness for children in their local communities by providing their local libraries with a wider range of cultural children's books. Another student volunteered his spare time during the COVID-19 pandemic to collect and donate face masks to her community.

The below sections will provide more insight into the students that have attended this program and share their experiences and successes.