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Entrepreneurship Minor

Embark on a proven process that equips you for entrepreneurial leadership, ready to distill your unique vision into a market-ready, changemaking business.

Zimpleman College of Business | On-Campus

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What You'll Learn

Combining a thorough study of core business areas with a wealth of hands-on experience, Drake University’s Entrepreneurship minor guides you through the process of launching a new venture.

It’s the perfect preparation for driving growth, from developing a nonprofit to proposing new initiatives in the corporate world.

In a three-course sequence, you’ll carefully construct your entrepreneurial toolkit from the ground up. This begins with a big-picture view of the business landscape and core areas like finance, operations, and marketing. Then, you and a team will create a full business plan and pitch your idea to successful entrepreneurs and potential investors.

Throughout, you develop your sales skills, learn to build teams and use data, and understand how to spot opportunities. Two electives focus on entrepreneurial applications and deepen your preparation in strategic areas.

About the Entrepreneurship Minor

  • Walk through a step-by-step process to develop your idea from a vision to a profitable reality.
  • Forge connections with professors, local entrepreneurs, and business leaders who will serve as mentors for your journey.
  • Tap into numerous entrepreneurship programs offered on campus through the Zimpleman College of Business.
  • Explore career opportunities that leverage these skill sets, including design thinking, intrapreneurship, innovation management, and social entrepreneurship.

Program Facts

  • On campus
  • Available to all Drake students
  • 120 total credits; 18 credits for the minor

Program Options

Learn to think like an innovator and explore the mechanics of starting and running a business as you prepare to be an agent of change.

Entrepreneurship Minor

Ready yourself for disruptive leadership in just 18 credits. The minor includes an introductory course providing an overview of entrepreneurship, a two-course sequence on the process of business creation, a course on professional selling, and two electives selected in consultation with your advisor.

Meet the Faculty

With backgrounds spanning deep industry experience to cutting-edge research, your professors equip you for innovative leadership with a blend of practical lessons and data-driven insights.

Jeff A. Kappen, PhD

Jeff A. Kappen, PhD

Associate Professor, International Business; Department Chair, Management, Marketing, International Business, and Public Administration

Matthew Mitchell, PhD

Matthew Mitchell, PhD

Associate Professor, International Business and Strategy

All Faculty Members

Outside the Classroom

Begin putting what you learn into practice long before graduation. For entrepreneurial Bulldogs, multiple centers on campus and internships in the surrounding community provide a space for thinking strategically and building upon ideas.

In Drake's Buchanan Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, students work on a business plan together, including brainstorming and recording strategies

Buchanan Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership

Cultivate your entrepreneurial skills and mindset. You’ll solve problems and make a practical impact while connecting with fellow changemakers and members of the local business community.

Frosted glass signage for the Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship Outreach at Drake University

Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship Outreach

Resources like the Drake Business Clinic and Business Accelerator support Bulldogs’ entrepreneurial pursuits, as well as those of Des Moines’ entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Two hands in a handshake, one with a metal bracelet and the other with a light blue shirt cuff

Internships

Learn business operations from inside successful organizations. Our location—a regional hub of established companies and startups—means that opportunities for building relevant experience are abundant.

Careers & Skills

The entrepreneurial perspective and growth-driving skills you’ll build through the Entrepreneurship minor have a range of applications.

Have an idea to launch a business? By graduation, you’ll be ready. You’ll also be equipped to join a startup, helping advance an existing project or proposing new products or services. More broadly, the confidence and experience you gain position you to lead creative change in businesses and organizations of all kinds.

Job Titles

  • Business development manager
  • Entrepreneur
  • Founder
  • Marketing strategist
  • Product manager
  • Project manager

Skills

  • Business model development
  • Competence with the fundamentals of finance
  • Market analysis
  • Professional communication
  • Sales
  • Team leadership
Three Entrepreneurship minors, one in a suit and tie and the other two in business casual dress, converse as they walk through Drake University's campus

Salary & Growth Outlook

$

The average salary for jobs in business and finance as of 2024. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

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Take the Next Step

Get equipped to drive disruptive innovation, transforming your ideas into market-ready ventures through Drake’s Entrepreneurship minor.

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Four Entrepreneurship minors walk through a wooded area of Drake's campus after leaving a building