And then in an instant the school year was over…

What an amazing high impact year we have had at the ECenter. We're so proud of the student idea growth and we appreciate the support of so many alumni, corporate sponsors, speakers, entrepreneurs, and on–campus administrators, faculty, and staff who have helped us have our best year ever. THANK YOU! 

In the past three weeks alone we have selected students to work in the ECenter all summer long with their ideas through the Summer Seed Grant. Four students will be off in early June working as paid interns at start-up companies in MA and NH. We awarded the first ever Maurice Prize for $5,000, and $20,000 in prizes were awarded for i2 Passport to help pay tuition/student loans. 

This summer will continue to be busy.

Thanks to an anonymous donor gift, the ECenter will be home to the UNH Alumni Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. We are taking nominations now for our first award in October. Likewise, we are getting ready to welcome our first class of first-year students who have already started their own company, organization, or have been active in innovation in their high school years to the new Idea & Innovation Society.

 

If you like what you see happening at UNH and the ECenter, please considering giving to the #603Challenge. We rely on funding to support all of our programs. Your donation will be matched up to $150 per person while funds last (hint: give within the first 24 hours!) and if we get 50 donors, we receive a $25,000 bonus. 

Thank you!

As we mentioned in our March Newsletter, the ECenter decided to do things a little differently with our classic Start-up Speaker Series this semester. Partnering with UNH Career and Professional Success (CaPS), we’re demonstrating that innovators come from all colleges and majors! Entitled “Game Changers: Creating Change and Innovation from all Majors,” this three-part series welcomes many UNH alums back to campus. The second event took place on March 5th. If you couldn’t attend, here is what you missed. You can also watch the full video here on our YouTube page.

 

One game changer left her life in the corporate world to support shark research and conservation. The other worked in casting then established one of the Top 50 Film Festivals worldwide. Both are successful entrepreneurs. Both graduated from college with different majors and prove innovators and entrepreneurs come from all academic backgrounds.

To start, Cynthia Wigren ‘96 (a Wildlife Management Major from COLSA) shared stories about her journey. She spent 12 years working for online trading companies in the energy industry, focusing on project management and strategic planning. All the while, however, she was enhancing her passion for wildlife with travel and underwater experiences, ultimately leaving the corporate world to found the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. Cynthia shared, "It was ten years after graduating from college...I started to follow the news about shark research that was new to this area. In 2012, I called Dr. Greg Skomal who is a lead scientist...I had a conversation with him to learn more about his work and in that conversation I learned that he relied on outside funding. So, I started a non-profit to support white shark research and left my career to run that non-profit." Atlantic White Shark Conservancy works to educate the public about safety and inspire people to realize how important sharks are to the marine ecosystem and want to help conserve the species.

Next, Nicole Gregg '97 (a Liberal Arts Major from George Washington University) discussed her winding path to establishing her career. From wanting to be a scientist, then an actor, and working as a waitress, she took an internship at an independent film company. Still hoping to become an actor, she realized her passion for the business of making movies, not starring in movies. After the film company went out of business, Nicole found herself in Portsmouth, NH without a job and no job prospects. "One of the last films I worked on was a short film, and I gave up my casting fee to go on the film festival circuit. I fell in love with film festivals," said Nicole. Upon realizing Portsmouth didn't have a film festival, Nicole decided to create a job for herself and learn how to start a film festival. The NH Film Festival is now 17 years old.

Cynthia and Nicole both followed their passion and now love their work.

 

Other key take-aways shared with the audience and moderator Raina Sarvaiya, Director of Employer Relations at Career and Professional Success, were:

 

The ECenter is thrilled to announce a $360,000 gift from the Patten Family Foundation. The gift provides $120,000 a year over three years to support and expand several programs at the ECenter. 

“One of the best times to explore idea creation and being an entrepreneur is during college,” Harry S. Patten, Founder of Patten Family Foundation, remarked, “UNH’s Entrepreneurship Center is nationally recognized as one of the best for the work it does to engage students. I am so honored we are able to help support the amazing ECenter and specifically the i2 Passport and Paid Student Internship at Start-ups Programs. Over the past two years, I have met so many UNH students who never dreamed they could launch their ideas into reality until they took part in programs at the ECenter. To me, success is measured by outcomes and the ECenter has certainly proven it can deliver significant outcomes for students. I encourage all entrepreneurs consider ‘giving back’ and support the efforts of the ECenter.”

Mr. Patten’s gifts over the prior two years helped launch both the Paid Student Internship at Start-Ups Program and the i2 Passport Program at the ECenter. Four students get paid over the summer to work with a founder or co-founder of a start-up company and learn, from being in the trenches, the true nature of an early stage company.

Companies have been throughout New Hampshire and in Boston and Cambridge, MA. The i2 Passport Program rewards students with Visa Stamp Credits for every activity or event they participate in on campus that focuses on ideas, innovation, or entrepreneurship with over $25,000 in cash prizes to use to help pay off student loans or tuition.

“Harry Patten’s original funding to pilot the two programs was essential when we opened the ECenter,” ECenter Director Ian Grant commented, “This three-year commitment of the Patten Family Foundation will allow us to increase the internships to six students and also increase the number and engagement of students in the i2 Passport Program. The short and long term impact on students will be amazing and exciting to watch.”

The donation will also provide funding to the student-run Entrepreneurship Club that has over 100 student members, the newly created Student Idea Seed Fund to help students cover limited launch expenses, and will also provide materials and supplies to the ECenter Makerspace. The student-managed Makerspace includes 3D printers, laser cutter, and CNC mill machine, among many other pieces of equipment. The gift will allow students to build prototypes of their ideas and products without incurring any materials costs.

Entrepreneurship is more than starting a company; it’s a way of looking at the world through a lens focused on innovation and development. Nicholas Stuart , a rising junior in the Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics, has taken this concept of entrepreneurship and applied it wholeheartedly throughout his UNH experience. Although not the founder of a company, he has founded a club here on campus, acts as an angel investor through the Rines Angel Investment Fund, and works with start-up companies and initiatives through the ECenter.

ECenter intern, Devin McMahon, sat down with Nick to learn more about his entrepreneurial experiences. Here’s what he had to say…

Tell us about your current project. 

My most current project has been launching the organization UNH Crypto . My friends and I have been interested in creating a space where students and community members can discuss what blockchain and cryptocurrency is, how it can be applied to current industries, and what the future of it may entail. We’ve focused on discussing general adoption, creating workshops, and putting on speaker events. We recently had our first panel event about “Blockchain in NH,” and it was a huge success. The ECenter served as the perfect place to create an outlet for our discussions where students can feel comfortable voicing their opinions, networking with peers, and pursuing ideas together.

What inspired you to get involved with start-ups?  

My first time visiting UNH was in high school for a start-up pitch competition. I loved the atmosphere and faculty and it ended up being one of the reasons I chose UNH. When I started my first year, I began going to Entrepreneurship Club meetings and was very impressed with the speakers that visited. Each speaker, panelist, and activity gave me a better idea of what it takes to bring an idea to a commercial business. There was one specific speaker that was an alum who started his company in the same dorm I was living in at the time. It made the idea of taking a non-traditional career path seem a lot more doable and exciting to me. It eventually inspired me to join the Rines Angel Fund, a seed-stage investment fund in the business school, where I’ve been lucky enough to study the inner workings of dozens of start-ups for the past three semesters. The Fund has taught me so much about business models, financing a venture, and finding distribution channels for products. 

What inspires you to innovate? 

I’ve always been inspired by the people I’ve met that are pursuing their own passion. When I joined the University Innovation Fellows cohort through UNHInnovation, I was able to network with students around the world who tirelessly work to create a brighter future for themselves and their community. It takes a lot of courage to ditch the status quo and pursue a path of uncertainty.

Who has been an influence in your work and life?

My brothers in Alpha Kappa Psi have been a huge influence on my behavior in and out of the classroom. Alpha Kappa Psi is a major-agnostic co-ed professional business fraternity that I joined as a first-year student. Since then, I’ve been able to network with hundreds of like-minded students and work under some incredible mentors that have shaped my journey at UNH. Aside from teaching me business and career knowledge, they have also become some of my closest friends.

What does the future look like for you? 

It’s tough to say exactly, but I would enjoy continuing to learn how I can advise and fund start-ups. I loved working for a tech-startup through the ECenter’s Paid Internship at a Startup Program and researching local start-ups in Rines. At the ECenter, I’ve met a handful of students working on their own unique projects and have been lucky enough to give them feedback and advice. It would be awesome to work as an analyst for a venture capital group and perhaps even become a General Partner of one someday.

Anything else we should know? (most important thing for readers to learn?) 

If you’re a student, I would encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and join some organizations or projects that interest you. For me, it has been a great way to make friends and learn about things that I wouldn’t have otherwise learned in class. There are always people looking for help creating new things and pursuing new opportunities. Whether they’re a success or failure, they’ll undoubtedly give you a better idea of what you may enjoy doing outside of school and beyond.