The School of Information Studies’ Entrepreneurship Club (E-Club) unveiled a plan Tuesday that aims to connect Syracuse University with the local community in a unique way.

Headed by its founder Robert J. Sherman, a junior in both the iSchool and the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, the Entrepreneurship Knowledge Bridge (EKB) will provide an educational Internet resource for struggling local entrepreneurs.

Through EKB, struggling businesspeople can learn more about the fundamental principals of entrepreneurship such as financing and marketing.

‘This idea was developed through the discussion that took place between myself and Professor Larry Bennett at the Whitman School of Management,’ he said in an e-mail interview. ‘We were talking about opportunities in the market and realized that entrepreneurs have a hard time getting the material that they need, and there is a lot of the needed material at Syracuse already.’

The iSchool E-Club won a $6,000 grant in the fall to fund the project from the Syracuse Campus-Community Entrepreneurship Initiative (Enitiative), a program funded by a separate grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas, Mo.

‘This was something that none of the iSchool E-Club officers had ever done before,’ Sherman said. ‘It was a good challenge, we are excited about where it is going.’

EKB will be a positive movement for both local businesses and students alike, Sherman said. ‘We hope to give the local entrepreneurs and business individuals in the Syracuse area the ability to learn new ways to build their business,’ he said. ‘It is also a project that gives students the ability to work directly with a recognized project.’

Three faculty advisors have signed on to aid the E-Club in this project: iSchool professors Murali Venkatesh and Michael D’Eredita and Whitman professor Larry Bennett.

Venkatesh and Bennett plan to employ their own students to help EKB as well. On the iSchool side, students will be asked to provide computer code and design work. From Whitman, students will try to help the development and feedback system of the project, according to SUNews.

D’Eredita’s role will be slightly different. ‘My role in the whole thing is more focused on providing guidance for the iSchool E-Club in general,’ he said. ‘My primary focus is on making sure the club becomes more viable over time.’

The program will also serve to embody Chancellor Nancy Cantor’s ‘Scholarship in Action’ platform, as students will get the chance to interact with local entrepreneurs on a personal level.

‘It seems to be a real perfect fit with the whole thing, especially in regard to the chancellor’s goals to really interface with the community and things like that,’ D’Eredita said.

Moreover, EKB will be aided by Venkatesh’s own project, Salina Connect, which provides wireless Internet services to struggling local neighborhoods.

As for an official launch date for the project, Sherman still isn’t sure.

‘We have not associated a specific launch date with the project,’ he said. ‘The goal for this semester is to put together a full specification as well as gather the needs of the concerned parties.’

A timeline should follow the full specification, and Sherman hopes a beta version of the program will be out in the fall, he said.

For more information on the iSchool E-Club, visit its Web site at ischooleclub.syr.edu. The club holds meetings every Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. in Hinds Hall room 347.

wfmcmill@syr.edu

Published on February 6, 2008 at 12:00 pm