By Tanya Nair ’19
My experience at the Furman Business and Entrepreneurship Bootcamp was unforgettable. I had no background in finance, business, or accounting and was quite intimidated about how I would be able to take in new “businessy” information in a short, three-week period. I was surprised to see that every session was designed thoughtfully and built on the previous session. The sessions ensured that novel business, accounting, leadership, and marketing concepts are introduced and explained in a way that they were easily understood by all students regardless of their majors. The program also had a pitch competition at the end, which required the students to work in teams on a business idea and present it to a group of potential investors at the end of the program. This part of the program enabled us to apply the information we gathered during our sessions to real life problems. It also trained us on how to give a business pitch.
The most unique part about the boot camp was that we had a new guest speaker, almost every day. The speakers were amazing entrepreneurs or what we called disruptors that were changing the game in their fields. It was deeply inspiring to get to meet these entrepreneurs and learn about their lives and their struggles. It was empowering to see how they overcame challenges in their businesses and created something valuable. Their stories of not giving up created a deep impact in how I viewed the success and failure of a business and taught me the importance of resilience.
I went to the boot camp within three weeks of graduating college and did not regret a minute of having to study again! The content was very well planned, the readings were relevant and interesting, the professors were engaging, the students built a great community and environment that fostered learning, and the entrepreneur mentors shared inspiring stories that highlighted how entrepreneurs doubt themselves and how they can overcome their limitations to be successful. I am grateful for the learning experience I received.
