Brief History
Our Center was founded in 2016 under the leadership of Dean Emmanuel Omojokun, Ph.D. who appointed Dr. Patrice Perry-Rivers as the Center's founding director. Between 2016-2021, the Center focused on developing an entrepreneurship minor and entrepreneurship training curricula, providing students with small business shadowing and internship oppportunities, featuring entrepreneurship speakers in our courses to inspire students, and strategic planning for the growth of our educational and outreach programs.

Societal Impact
In 2021, the Center began our first large scale outreach program to the community--the Minority Small Business Launch Center program--as the result of a successful grant application with GO Virginia, a funding program authorized by the Virginia Governor's office and administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development to spur economic development in key regions throughout the state. Today, we proudly administer the GO Virginia-funded Minority Small Business Launch Center, an entrepreneurship pre-accelerator committed to increasing the number and percentage of minority-owned firms that launch, survive and positively contribute to a successful and innovative Virginia economy for years to come. This program intended to only aid 300 entrepreneurs from July 2021 to July 2023, has aided over 1000 entrepreneurs of all races and backgrounds throughout Virginia, delivered over 13,000 entrepreneurship training hours, and helped launch and/or expand hundreds of business resulting in a significant positive impact on our state and region.

Regional and International Awards
The Center's efforts had such an impact that Dr. Perry-Rivers was awarded a Community Transformers Award for Finance in 2022 by the Richmond Community Transformers Foundation because of the program's positive economic impact in the Richmond region. Further, in 2023, the Center's team was selected by an international committee of entrepreneurship educators and scholars to win an international entrepreneurship award for their efforts--5th Place in the Global Awards Category for the Triple E Award for Excellence in Entrepreneurship Higher Education, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Team of the Year. For the same competition, our team won 1st place for the "People's Choice Award" for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Team of the Year based on receiving more votes from our supporters than any other finalists in the world in that category.

Our Educational Programs, Resources & Services
The VSU Center for Entrepreneurship is part of the AACSB-accredited Reginald F. Lewis College of Business, which offers an 18-credit hour minor in Entrepreneurship for college students developed and taught by Center faculty. The Center's efforts serve as a key driver of the societal impact efforts for the College.

To engage with existing and aspiring entrepreneurs in the community, the Center offers certification programs, a fall and spring small business academy, student internships and summer camps, small business resources with regional entrepreneurship support organization partners, and more recently, seed funding grants, pitch competitions, and entrepreneurship student scholarships as the result of gifts from generous and highly supportive private donors.