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Entrepreneurship and Innovation Minor

About The Program

The Minor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation helps students build their dreams by providing students the knowledge, skills, experience, and career opportunities to create or energize a business. Whether the dream is to start a new business, launch a career as an innovative manager within an existing organization, support a family business, become a franchisee, or build inner leadership skills, this discipline will help students achieve their economic and personal goals.

Regardless of a student's major discipline of study, these courses will help them expand their career options and competitiveness. The experiential education classes help students think like an entrepreneur, build confidence, engage in real world cases, and create their own destiny.

Taught by experts in the industry and scholars with entrepreneurial experience, the Entrepreneurship and Innovation courses are uniquely tied to the extensive entrepreneurial ecosystem of the Twin Cities and the nation. Students are exposed to a broad range of community experts that further supplement their education, career options, and resources.

How to enroll

Current students: Declare this program

Once you’re admitted as an undergraduate student and have met any further admission requirements your chosen program may have, you may declare a major or declare an optional minor.

Future students: Apply now

Apply to Metropolitan State: Start the journey toward your Entrepreneurship and Innovation Minor now. Learn about the steps to enroll or, if you have questions about what Metropolitan State can offer you, request information, visit campus or chat with an admissions counselor.

Get started on your Entrepreneurship and Innovation Minor

Program eligibility requirements

This minor is open to students with any major at Metropolitan State. Students must must earn a grade of S or C- or above in courses to be used to meet prerequisites.

Courses and Requirements

SKIP TO COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Entrepreneurship and Innovation Minor Residency Requirements: At least 12 credits from among the Minor Required Courses, Minor Electives and Capstone must be completed at Metropolitan State. See also the CBM policies page for requirements that are common to all programs.

Prerequisites

+ College of Business and Management majors

Individual ENTR course prerequisites include one or more of the following:

This course introduces the application to financial decision-making of mathematics, statistics, economic theory, and accounting procedures. The two central ideas are time value of money and the relationship between expected return and risk, and how these ideas are used to value bonds, stocks, and other financial securities, and to make capital investment decisions.

Full course description for Principles of Finance

This course surveys factors that marketing managers take into account when creating a marketing plan, including consumer behavior principles, market segmentation, product life cycle, packaging, branding, pricing, advertising, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling, product distribution methods and key laws affecting marketing practices. The course takes a practical approach to explaining how to identify marketing objectives and determine strategies for reaching them. It is useful to general business students, students who plan marketing management or marketing communications careers and those who wish to be better informed consumers. This course is also offered online. Prerequisite: Goal 1 writing requirement plus 30 credits must be satisfied.

Full course description for Marketing Principles

Non-College of Business and Management majors

Students not pursuing a major within the College of Management must begin their Entrepreneurship minor by taking ENTR 300, plus any additional prerequisite courses, after which they can take the remaining Entrepreneurship courses. If not available, ENTR310 can be substituted as an introduction course.

Requirements (16 credits)

+ Required (12 credits)

Creating an Innovative Mindset and Personal Brand focuses on the individual owner or innovative manager¿s behaviors and empowers students to develop mindset meta-skills including creativity, innovation, risk-taking, proactive behavior, non-conformity, GRIT, reframing failure, alertness, adaptability, and inclusivity awareness. Learn how to overcome barriers, enhance self-awareness, and navigate successfully in diverse organizations from start- ups to existing organizations while managing a personal brand and relationships. Strong emphasis is placed on exposure to real -world applications and leaders useful for advancing career success regardless of major and industry choice.

Full course description for Creating an Innovative Mindset and Personal Brand

Elective (4 credits)

Entrepreneurs confront many challenges. Often they want merely to focus on their core business. Managing technology cost effectively to support an enterprise at start up and as it grows requires expertise that could detract from other entrepreneurial pursuits. This course is designed to help jump start the process of selecting and maintaining technology during the stages of starting and running a business.

Full course description for Technology Management for Entrepreneurs

Internships offer students opportunities to gain deeper knowledge and skills in their chosen field. Students are responsible for locating their own internship. Metro faculty members serve as liaisons to the internship sites¿ supervisors and as evaluators to monitor student work and give academic credit for learning. Students are eligible to earn 1 credit for every 40 hours of work completed at their internship site.

Full course description for Management Individual Internship

This course is designed to provide insights into digital marketing strategy and various digital channels. Students will gain an understanding of the trends, concepts, and tools of digital marketing that companies use to engage with current customers and attract new. This course covers topics such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), online advertising, social media marketing, email marketing, and similar topics.

Full course description for Digital Marketing

In advertising and marketing today, copywriting is more important than ever. Effective copy needs to cut through the clutter whether for digital or traditional media. This course focuses on learning how to write compelling copy incorporating positioning, audience research, creative briefs, features and benefits, creation of an advertising premise (USP) and copy organization. It also covers content development, design basics, working relationships and digital and traditional advertising production terminology/best practices

Full course description for Advertising Copywriting, Design and Production

Students learn how to ¿Do Well while Doing Good¿ and explore their own capacity as a social change agent and business owner in the social entrepreneurship business model . Applicable across all industries, this course explores organizations that focus on the spirit of innovation and the triple bottom line of social impact, profits, and environmental considerations while helping to solve social challenges. This course differentiates between traditional entrepreneurial, intrapreneurial, and social mission focused- organizations as well as highlights the historical lens and theories of these social and economically viable businesses that promote positive change in communities and cultures.

Full course description for Social Entrepreneurship in Action: Changing Communities and Cultures

MGMT 350I: Up to 4 credits (1-4) of internship credit can be counted toward your ENTR minor as elective credit.