MUNCIE, Ind -- Aspiring entrepreneurial college students at Ball State University may soon tap into a new financial assistance program to start-up their new firms.

Donald F. Kuratko, director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship, is working with various individuals and companies to create a student venture capital fund for the 2000-2001 school year.

"It is the next natural step for the program," said Kuratko, the Jeff and Teri Stoops Distinguished Professor of Business. "We believe that our entrepreneurship program graduates are ready to create the next major firms of the new millennium. With just a little bit of help, we can make their dreams come true.

"Entrepreneurship is not a fad," he said. "It has been the driving force of the economy for more than 10 years. I believe that technology will spur aspiring entrepreneurs to develop new firms faster than ever in the coming decades."

Under Kuratko’s direction, the program has received major financial gifts from the Lilly Foundation, Papa John’s Pizza, NASDAQ and other companies and individuals.

The venture capital fund will allow recent graduates or current students to tap into small grants to create their start-up firms. Financial guidelines for the fund are still being developed.

"That is all you really need in order to go to a bank or a lending institution for a loan to get your business going," Kuratko said. "Seed capital may be the most important step in developing a new company outside of a solid business plan."

Ball State was one of the first five colleges to start undergraduate and graduate programs in entrepreneurship in 1984. About 550 colleges and universities in the U.S. have started similar programs, making it the fastest growing field of study at the college level.

The major purpose of the Institute for Entrepreneurship is to provide the state of Indiana with a research and development center that focuses on ventures, development, and growth. Research is conducted, analyzed, documented, and made available to Indiana organizations involved with the Institute for Entrepreneurship.

The institute provides the needed link to enhancing entrepreneurs and business development for Indiana’s future by conducting research and by assessing and analyzing the activities of entrepreneurs, corporate entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurial ventures.

Ball State is ranked as one of the top business schools in the United States for entrepreneurship including Business Week’s "Top 20" and Success magazine’s "Top 25." The Ball State entrepreneurship program has won numerous awards including the 1998 Model Program Award (Graduate Level) by the U.S. Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship; the 1994 National Finalist designation by the Kauffman Foundation, Ernst & Young, and Merrill Lynch; the 1993 National Federation of Independent Business Foundation Excellence Award; the 1990 National Model Program Award (Undergraduate Level) by the U.S. Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, the 1988 Leavey Foundation Award for Excellence in Private Enterprise, and the 1987 George Washington Medal of Honor by the Freedoms Foundation.

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact Kuratko by E-mail at dkuratko@bsu.edu or by phone at (765) 285-5327.)