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Statewide Entrepreneurship Conference Rescheduled

CONTACT: Deb Bishop, director of the Drake University John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center, 515-271-3818, deb.bishop@drake.edu;

Katie Knorovsky, 515-271-1834, katie.knorovsky@drake.edu

Approximately 300 college and high school students from Iowa and surrounding states will gather at Drake University Friday, March 30, for the Collegiate Entrepreneur’s Iowa Conference. The event was originally scheduled for March 2 but was rescheduled due to winter weather.

The conference, which is free and open to the public, is being hosted by the Drake College of Business and Public Administration’s John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center. It is scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Olmsted Center, 29th Street and University Avenue. The registration deadline is Monday, March 26.

This is the sixth year for the annual conference but the first time Drake will have hosted. Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), a student organization that made its debut at Drake last year, will help run the daylong event. Students will participate in morning sessions covering topics such as financing entrepreneurial endeavors, writing winning business plans and developing effective marketing and advertising strategies. In addition, finalists of the statewide Student Business Plan Competition will lead a panel discussion during the morning sessions.

Terry Rich, CEO of Blank Park Zoo, will make opening remarks at 9 a.m. in Parents Hall, Olmsted Center. Recently named an American Zoological Professional Fellow, Rich was previously the president of Rich Heritage Inc., a national marketing and television production company and is recognized as a cable television pioneer. He hosts the Bill Riley State Fair Talent Search and has won numerous innovator awards.

Kyle Krause, president of Kum & Go L.C., will speak at 1 p.m. Krause is also the owner and president of Solar Transport, the largest Iowa-based refined fuel transporter, and in 1998, he purchased majority ownership of the Des Moines Menace, a Premier Development League soccer team.