Conference-goers celebrate entrepreneurship

MARQUETTE — Those interested in making their own way in business got a chance to find out how at Northern Michigan University Friday.

NMU’s College of Business hosted its third Celebration of Entrepreneurship and Business Conference. The conference was created to allow aspiring businesspeople from high school and beyond to learn from seasoned entrepreneurs while providing networking opportunities for those entrepreneurs.

“This conference was developed to help not just the students or the college. It’s for the whole community,” said David Rayome, Dean of the NMU College of Business. “If you look at the history of the U.P., it has a long history of strong entrepreneur business-minded individuals building stuff out of basically not much.”

Friday’s conference focused on women in business. Keynote speaker Charu Sharma — an entrepreneur, author, and filmmaker — brought stories of her experience to the event.

“What I wanted to focus today on really is getting more women involved,” Sharma said. “When we enter the workforce in America, roughly 50 percent of us are women, but at the top there are so few women. Less than four percent of American companies are run by women.”

Numerous local entrepreneurs, including leaders of startup-assisting groups like Innovate Marquette and Invent@NMU, held workshops throughout the day.