Sunday, June 29, 2008 1:05 AM CDT
OUR VIEW: Entrepreneurs have helped America go far
By the JG/T-C Editorial Board
editorial@jg-tc.com
Entrepreneurs from Benjamin Franklin, George Washington Carver, Eli Whitney and Thomas Edison to Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey share three traits: ideas, thinking outside the box, and willingness to take risks.
Gates may be most famous modern-day entrepreneur, launching an empire from a garage, but he followed in the footsteps of other men and women who helped build the free enterprise system in America.
Born into slavery in 1864, Carver transformed the agrarian, cotton-dependent Southern economy, wrecked by the boll weevil, by teaching farmers to rotate crops. And on the way, he transformed the peanut.
From the peanut, he invented plastics, synthetic rubber, shaving cream, shampoo and many other useful products. In all, he discover approximately 300 uses for peanuts. He also discovered more uses for sweet potatoes and soybeans.
Although peanut butter had been around for centuries, Carver made it popular. Today, millions of Americans love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Carver was entrepreneurship at its best.
America has long been the incubator of entrepreneurs. We find most them in the small businesses which play a large part in driving the U.S. economy.
The economic future of the country will continue to rest on the shoulders of people willing to transform ideas into reality. Encouraging young people to be entrepreneurs is an investment in the nation’s future.
The recent Camp E3 (Energizing Emerging Entrepreneurs), held in Effingham and sponsored by the Eastern Illinois University Center for Entrepreneur and Innovation, was designed to teach teenagers how to create and present business pitches of their own.
Teams of teenagers competed for gift cards and cash prizes. Each of the seven teams was given a hypothetical budget of $50,000 to use to create and implement a business that would facilitate Effingham’s economic development.
Camp sponsors included Lake Land College, Midland States Bank, EIU Education for Employment System, Crossroads Workforce Investment Center, and Schultz Investment Company.
From the ranks of the 31 teenagers participating will emerge some entrepreneurs. We need to encourage entrepreneurs in this country in order to remain competitive in the world.
A man who could rise from the chains of slavery and almost single-handedly transform Southern agriculture through his inventions demonstrates what a person can do if he sets his mind to it.
From the lowly peanut and the mind of a curious man came products and agricultural practices that helped the South rise again.
Carver’s inventions continue to have an impact on the America economy.
Think of that when you’re eating your peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
— JG/T-C Editorial Board
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sapient wrote on Jun 30, 2008 12:48 PM: