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Programs

We See Your Future in Entrepreneurship
Translate your ideas or technologies into viable commercial ventures.
Norfolk State University
The Ernest M. Hodge Institute for Entrepreneurship

The Ernest M. Hodge Institute for Entrepreneurship offers a wide variety of resources and programs designed to assist students, alumni and community members as they seek to translate their ideas or technologies into viable commercial ventures.


Workshops and Seminars

Workshops and Seminars provide hands-on experience to prospective entrepreneurs and owners of existing businesses. The Entrepreneurship Forum and Guess Speaker Series brings students and faculty face-to-face with venture capitalists, successful entrepreneurs and business leaders. These programs feature guest speakers sharing their real-world experiences, providing students and educators insight into the practical aspects of a successful new venture.

Entrepreneur Network

The Hodge Institute’s Entrepreneur Network links practitioners, service providers and educators. Through this network students, alumni and others gain access to accomplished entrepreneurs, business owners, and service providers (bankers, accountants, lawyers, etc.) whose professional knowledge, experience, and access will be critical to prospective entrepreneurs.

Business and Entrepreneurship Executive Internship Program

The Hodge Institute’s Business and Entrepreneurship Executive Internship Program provides NSU students with hands-on experiential-learning opportunities. Working side-by-side with real entrepreneurs, students learn by doing. The Institute also collaborates with Student Career Services to promote summer internships and, ultimately, employment opportunities upon graduation.

Annual Business Plan Competition

The Annual Business Plan Competition is designed to provide NSU students from all academic disciplines, and alumni, the opportunity to test the value of their new venture ideas through competition. Competitors present their summary business plans to a panel of distinguished alums, successful entrepreneurs and leading academics.

Entrepreneur-In-Residence Program

The Ernest M. Hodge Institute's Entrepreneur-In-Residence Program (EIRP) provides NSU students the opportunity to interact with for- and not-for-profit organizations as they prepare to pursue their professional careers in the private and public sectors. The EIRP, while serving as a bridge between business students and the business community, gives students the opportunity to apply what they've learned in the classroom, and demonstrate the practical value of their knowledge to prospective employers.

The EIRP will enable students to serve as consultants to prospective entrepreneurs as well as to actual for- and not-for-profit businesses seeking growth opportunities in the Hampton Roads area under the guidance of clients' senior executives and NSU faculty. These experiential-learning opportunities provide students with useful insight into the characteristics of successful entrepreneurship, business management and effective leadership.

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