Please join us on Monday, January 22nd when we will welcome Tom Ledbetter, a fellow Rotarian and Associate VP at Midlands Technical College, speak about the Center for Entrepreneurial Success.
Tom Ledbetter, Associate Vice President for Entrepreneurial Success and Community Engagement, said the CES will launch with a heavy focus on serving current students, hoping the college will see an increase in students who desire to run their own businesses.
“Two-thirds of our students come here to get credentials to go to work,” said Ledbetter. “We want to provide an entrepreneurial toolbox for students should they consider starting their own business.”
Midlands Technical College is leveraging space, services, people, programs, and technical capabilities of the college and incorporating these into a strategy that is wide in its approach, but deep in its understanding of small business.
“MTC already has a wealth of resources to offer students who want to be entrepreneurs,” he said. “We can help with blueprints and drawings, prototyping, engineering, and technical reviews. We have all kinds of talent here at MTC that can make students successful business owners and inventors.”
MTC currently offers programs like automotive technology, HVAC, and industrial electricity that enable students to graduate with the technical skills to go into business for themselves. One year from now, Ledbetter hopes these students and others see the CES as the place to go for information on starting a business.
“Most of our students know about (the television show) Shark Tank,” he said. “MTC has the expertise and knowledge in-house to move students through the steps of taking their business or product ideas to market and how to start and sustain a small business.”
Ledbetter has 20 years of experience working with students who have that entrepreneurial spark. He says the pursuit of successful self-employment is rooted in passion.
“Developing a student’s entrepreneurial talent is the next great product for MTC,” he said. “We do some of this now, but we are going to be doing a whole lot more of it. This is essentially a new product launch for MTC.”
The Center for Entrepreneurial Success at Midlands Technical College is located in the Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Skilled Crafts on the college’s Airport Campus.