Author: Keegan McChesney
Ten Occidental Students and one advisor for Oxypreneurship will be attending the fourth Global Entrepreneurship Summit and the Global Youth StartUp Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from Oct. 3 to 13.
Thousands of people will be convening at the Summit such as government leaders, entrepreneurial pioneers, business leaders, noteworthy scholars and aspiring youth, in order make connections and inspire international breakthroughs.
Professor Sanjeev Khagram, the John Parke Young Professor of Global Political Economy, has arranged for 10 students from the Entrepreneurial Leadership in the 21st Century “class,” co-taught by Professor Sherry Simpson-Dean, to attend.
The group of students consists of DWA major Alexander Keat (junior), economics major Elwyn Pratt (junior), undeclared major Shilpa Bhongir (sophomore), economics major Siddharth Saravat (junior), DWA major Manna Selassie (senior), politics Brandilyn Tebo (junior), DWA major Harneet Kaur (senior), DWA major Emma Lalley (senior), undeclared major Valdair Martins Lopes (sophomore) and economics major “Kenny” Vinh Tran (junior). These students are attending as representatives of the on-campus organization Oxypreneurship and having displayed their various leadership and entrepreneurial abilities.
Oxypreneurship is Occidental’s own entrepreneurial organization, committed to connecting students to the resources and contacts they need to thrive as an emerging entrepreneurs. Oxypreneurship was co-founded last year by Khagram and Keat, after students were inspired to create an entrepreneurial environment on campus by taking Khagram’s Task Force in Diplomacy and World Affairs 150 class.
The organization runs on a three-arc strategy: action, experience and incubator. The action team’s goal is to inspire students and promote short-term projects and campus events. The experience team works on a mid-range timeline and is in charge of promoting skill-building, professor involvement and curriculum creation. The incubator team is a long-term project that seeks to use the inspiration and skills gained from the first two teams to go out into the real world and pursue their entrepreneurial endeavors.
“When I was recruited to join the faculty here, I told President Veitch and Dean Gonzalez that one of my top priorities was to make Oxy the premier liberal arts college for entrepreneurism,” Khagram said. “This is only my second year here, and we have made tremendous progress towards achieving this vision.”
The Malaysia trip was spearheaded by Khagram. Rebecca Hwang, former Stanford student and leader in the entrepreneur community for her start-up, YouNoodle, was also instrumental in making this trip a reality.
“This is an amazing opportunity because there are so many youth coming from all over the world,” Keat, co-founder and co-coordinator of Oxypreneurship, said. “Hundreds of young people our age are coming together to solve problems that are extremely relevant to our generation. And how often does that happen? It is also special because these youth have the capacity to turn what happens [at Global StartUp Youth Summit] into a reality.”
President Barack Obama will be giving the special address on the opening day of the Summit. Funding for the trip has been provided by the Young Fund, for which Khagram serves as the chair, and the International Programs Office. The Global Youth Summit is providing lodging and meals in Kuala Lumpur for the group.
“The Malaysia trip has the potential to foster a new global community of young leaders who will be expanding and accelerating global economic possibilities by problem solving internationally,” Dean said. “Oxypreneurship will be enriched by new perspectives that will no doubt have a profound effect on the Oxy community through TEDx and our other upcoming campus wide events.”
There are a number of upcoming Oxypreneurship sponsored events on campus and ways to get involved with the organization.
The group will be returning from their trip to Malaysia Oct. 13 with a new sense of entrepreneurial expertise.
“I am excited to be around like minded students from all around the world. Occidental is just beginning,” Lopes said. “The Malaysia trip is the start to an exciting future, it will give us great exposure so we can continue on the path to creating a progressive entrepreneurial community at Oxy.”
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