Chico >> For the fifth year, the Center for Entrepreneurship at Chico State University is presenting a celebration of entrepreneurs called eWeek.
The week is April 20-24, but it’s actually a month of speakers, events and school-to-school competitions.
There are 24 speakers, most of them entrepreneurs with a local connection, who will talk about how they did what they did, according to Peter Straus, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship.
“Over the course of what has grown into a month of activities, there will be 24 speakers, our most,” said Straus. “We’ve assembled an impressive list of successful entrepreneurs in both the business and social sphere ready to deliver their messages of this is how we did it.”
Straus said the business community, and community in general, are welcome to attend the programs at Chico State, which are free.
At 6 p.m. April 8, Christian Friedland, CEO of Build.com in Chico, will speak at the Bell Memorial Union. On April 9, Maury Gallagher, CEO of Allegiant Air in Las Vegas, will be on campus most of the day and has a 7 p.m. talk in Ayers 106. Gallagher was an owner of former Chico-based WestAir Airlines.
At 7 p.m. April 20 in Colusa Hall, Christian Hendricks of Sacramento, vice president of interactive media at McClatchy Co., will speak.
At 7 p.m. April 21 in Colusa Hall, Matt York of One Media Projector Per Trainer and Videomaker Magazine in Chico will talk about his recent trip to West Africa about technology to help train individuals in the fight against Ebola.
At 7 p.m. April 22 in Colusa Hall, a full-length film about the early days of Silicon Valley venture capital, “Something Ventured,” will be shown. It will be introduced by venture capitalist Bob Bozeman of East Lake Ventures and the 530 Fund.
At 7 p.m. April 23 in Holt Hall 170, Kathryn Schifferle of Chico, CEO of start-up Work Truck Solution, will speak about her work with Ford and GM dealers and capital raising efforts.
The second annual Northern California Business Concept Competition, which pits student teams and entrepreneurial ideas from Chico, Humboldt, Sacramento and Sonoma state universities, will be from 4 to 7 p.m. April 24 at Sylvester’s by the Creek on campus. Students will present their ideas to a panel of judges, including Debra Cannon of Lulus.com apparel website, Chico; Scott Bedford of Peninsula Capital; Cedar Reuben of Humboldt Investment Capital; and Marc Nemanic of 3CORE financing in Chico for cash prizes and programs.
On April 30, 14 successful business leaders will return to Chico State to teach classes and consult, including Andrew Gazdecki, CEO of BiznessApps.com, and Crystal Estes, CFO of 11 Main.
A complete list of the activities and information about the center can be viewed at www.csucchico.edu/cfe.
