New Owls learn all about entrepreneurship

Rice’s Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Lilie) hosted 44 incoming freshmen the week of June 3 for the inaugural Lilie Change Maker Summit. The four-day immersive experience provided like-minded students the opportunity to get their hands dirty working through the entrepreneurial process.

A series of workshops and speakers guided the students through the exploration of major challenges the world faces, the ideation of solutions and then working through business models to see what types of ventures could support and advance their ideas. Highlights of the week included a discussion with Rackspace founder Richard Yoo, who shared his personal entrepreneurial experiences, and an improv session with Houston’s Station Theater comedy company to educate students on two essential skills in entrepreneurship: communication and empathy. The summit culminated in a pitch competition, where student teams competed for seed grants to further their ideas.

The summit was led by Jamie Jones, executive director of Lilie, and Hesam Panahi, lecturer in entrepreneurship at Rice’s Jones Graduate School of Business and a faculty member at Lilie.

(Photos by Starlic Williams)