Business owners from across the state gathered at the Hilton Capitol Center on Tuesday for the first-ever Louisiana Entrepreneurship Day.
Carol Carter, associate director of the E.J. Ourso College of Business Stephenson Entrepreneurship Institute, said the reason for the event was to encourage entrepreneurship in the state.
“The state of Louisiana was built on entrepreneurship,” she said.
Carter said it’s important to include students because many will own businesses in the future.
“If we want the best and brightest, and to keep our college graduates here, we need to have an entrepreneurship environment here,” she said.
Carter said the event hosted guest speakers and networking sessions in which local business owners were encouraged to meet others from around the state.
She said the event ended late Tuesday evening with a town hall meeting where attendees could speak with an entrepreneurship panel to learn how to implement ideas in Baton Rouge.
Carter said her hopes are high for this event in the future.
“I know our chamber and state government recognize the importance of this,” she said.
Kevin Langley, a member of the SEI advisory board, was one of the event’s organizers.
Langley said he agrees it’s important for students to become interested in entrepreneurship.
“It’s showing them that it’s a real career choice,” he said.
Jill Roshto, SEI director of development, said public response to the event was encouraging.
“We knew there was a large interest in entrepreneurship in Baton Rouge, but we really see it here,” she said.
Roshto said about 300 people registered for the event and several others attended without signing up.
“It really exceeded our expectations,” she said. “It was twice as many as anticipated.”
Roshto said another entrepreneurship event is planned for the fall, and she expects Louisiana Entrepreneurship Day to continue annually.
 
 
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Contact Rachel Warren at [email protected]