Entrepreneurship skills—you’re either born with them or without them. We’ve all heard some version of this assumption, but when it comes to developing your business skills with an MBA, is it true?

Not quite, according to Dr. Irem Demirkan, Associate Professor and instructor for GB-718 Entrepreneurship in the Sellinger School of Business and Management. “As long as you know the right management tools anybody can be an entrepreneur…entrepreneurship is not a trait that you are born with but rather a skill that you learn through education and practice.”

This assumption is just one of many that Dr. Demirkan challenges her students to overcome in GB-718 Entrepreneurship. “In this class I show my students that entrepreneurship is not reserved to startups,” she says.  “We view entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial thinking more broadly, which challenges my students’ prior expectations and assumptions.”

With a focus on practical application in all positions and industries, Irem recommends her class for any graduate business student, regardless of their concentration because entrepreneurship is a mindset that can be relevant for everyone. “This summer, my students had a final reflection piece about the course, and they mention in general that they were surprised to find out how helpful entrepreneurial skills and the tools that they learned in this class can be in any industry setting and especially in their own jobs.”

“The concept of design thinking and the human-centered service design approach is one of the most relevant and applicable lessons I've learned in the entire MBA program so far. That is a bold statement, but I make it genuinely because these concepts can be a force multiplier for many of the other business disciplines we learn about.”

–Scott Shapiro, MBA candidate

Course Details

GB-718 Entrepreneurship is offered online in an asynchronous format, which provides students with the flexibility to go at their own pace. “While the students go over the content on their own pace, we do have discussion boards and we utilize Microsoft Teams discussion site where the students get to interact with their peers quite a lot,” Dr. Demirkan explained. There are, of course, traditional course deliverables, but beyond that, students in this class dive into cases of entrepreneurship that break the stereotypical examples, put themselves in the shoes of an entrepreneur through a simulation, and connect with entrepreneurs about their experiences.

If you’re looking to broaden your entrepreneurial mindset and develop the tools you need to be successful, completing this Entrepreneurship course, as part of your MBA journey at Loyola University Maryland, will help you do just that.

Ready to invest in yourself and discover the Sellinger difference? Apply to the Professional’s MBA today.