OXFORD, Miss. – Entrepreneurs, economic developers, innovators and future business owners will converge virtually in April at the 2021 Mississippi Entrepreneurship Forum with the goal of learning more about the climate and future of entrepreneurship in Mississippi.
The event, sponsored by the University of Mississippi’s McLean Institute for Public Service and Community Engagement, will be hosted virtually for the first time April 13-14. Information on registration and speakers will be released soon on the forum’s website.
“The Mississippi Entrepreneurship Forum provides a vital venue for entrepreneurs, economic developers, innovators and future business owners,” UM Chancellor Glenn Boyce said. “It is especially impressive how this event brings together colleges and universities to promote entrepreneurship, inform best practices and discuss community and economic development in Mississippi.
“This collaborative approach is essential to priming the conditions and fostering the talent for the emergence of breakthrough ideas that will lead Mississippi forward.”
Besides the entrepreneurship forum, an inaugural Student Business Pitch Competition also will be hosted virtually April 13.
The forum is part of the Catalyzing Entrepreneurship and Economic Development initiative, funded by a generous financial gift from the Robert M. Hearin Support Foundation. In its sixth year, the Mississippi Entrepreneurship Forum will provide working opportunities for aspiring business owners and thriving entrepreneurs to share practical and useful information about building a business.
Additionally, attendees will hear best practices of successful case studies and learn more about resources and strategies available from institutions of higher education and other key organizations.
Panels on technology and innovation, student entrepreneurship and the state’s entrepreneurial ecosystem also will be conducted on April 14.
Previous forums have been held in Clarksdale, Tupelo, Greenwood, Oxford and Jackson.
For more information about the 2021 Mississippi Entrepreneurship Forum, visit https://meforum.olemiss.edu/, or contact J.R. Love at jrlove@olemiss.edu or Tasha Bibb at tbibb@innovate.ms.
MEF planning committee members include:
- Allyson Best of the University of Mississippi
- JR. Love of the University of Mississippi
- Tasha Bibb of Innovate Mississippi
- John Brandon of Mississippi College
- Marty Brock of Mississippi University for Women
- Rochelle McGee-Cobbs of Mississippi Valley State University
- Carolyn Davis of Alcorn State University
- Christopher Lomax of Millsaps College
- Saundra McFarland of Jackson State University
- Lori Burke of ERDCWERX
- Nash Nunnery of the Mississippi Development Authority
- Jeffrey Rupp of Mississippi State University
- Will Tabor of Belhaven University
- James Wilcox of the University of Southern Mississippi
- Glendscene Williams of Delta State University