Mass Collegiate Entrepreneurs: Catalyzing student innovation
Scott Kirsner writes regularly about the innovation economy for The Boston Globe. In his article How to keep young people with great ideas from leaving I discovered an organization called the Massachusetts Collegiate Entrepreneurs. Taylor Caforio, a 2017 graduate of Becker College in Worcester, Mass. founded the organization before he received his degree:
… in part to help students find other team members for their startups, but also to help them find funding and mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs. Caforio says he didn’t meet many venture capitalists on the Becker campus: “I met VCs, but that was because I went to Boston a lot. I had to make those large steps to include myself in the Boston and Cambridge ecosystem. Most kids are secluded on campuses in the middle of nowhere.”
From the the home page of the MCE website:
Founder to founder mentorship and external resources for Massachusetts students.
and the question is asked: How many Apples or Googles were lost due to lack of mentors, resources and external encouragement?
Taylor is one of a team of three. He strives to drastically improve the conditions in which students establish their ventures. Taylor recently realized the demand for MCE after experiencing first hand with a friend the issues of starting up in college, like finding an additional co founder.
It’s great to see a student recognizing the need for mentorship and founding an organization to help meet that need by providing peer mentorship. This may well be a replicable model for areas that lack the mentorship provided by colleges, universities, incubators, and accelerators.
An interesting note about Becker College, located in Worcester Mass: the college has 100% of its endowment invested in social impact funds!
Mentorphile 