By Raychael Moseley/ Staff Writer

The 16th annual Maastricht Institute of Entrepreneurship is back and taking place on April 15-17. The institute holds some of the business industry’s big leaders as well as some MVC alumni. 

Vice President of Advancement Eric Sappington talked about some of his favorite things about the institute.

“My favorite part is being able to reach out to alumni of Missouri Valley that have gone on to be successful and they get to come back and be on campus and help the current students,” he said, adding about the change in students’ feelings about the institute. “When we bring in these business people from all over the world they sit there and kind of think man I could never do that…” but, “when we bring in the alumni they see how successful they were with their valley degree and think wow, I can do that.”

The Institute has held a variety of speakers including owners of restaurants, CEO’s, CFO’s, and small business owners. Including some Alumni; Brandon Gass ‘04 Central Region President, Daniel Peters ‘08, ‘16 Sr. Manager of Professional Services and Charlique Rolle ‘12 Executive Director. All of these speakers presented at the 15th annual. 

Dean of the School Of Business and Technology Milena Simic said the school is very proud of the program.

“My favorite part of the event is being able to step out of the classroom and have our students really take an active part in a professional conference” and, “to expose them to an experience to which they would normally have to travel for, getting to have it on campus and to get them closer to being successful business men and women,” she said.

An MVC freshman and Business Management major Blaire McLelland stated: “I am excited to be in a professional environment with successful people to show what I could become one day after graduation!”

The event was founded by former MVC president Bonnie Humphrey, Board member and founder of Xelat group  Benoit Wesley, and Dr Ed Elliot in 2006. In hopes of bringing an event to campus that could better help students connect with their futures. The institute is named after a city of Maastricht, Netherlands.

The goal of the Maastricht Institute is to foster creativity and interest in entrepreneurship. Milena Simic has been director of the Institute for two years now. Before Simic it was Larry Stockman, a professor of MVC for three decades and Director of the Institute since its inception. Larry passed away in 2022 but the institute is living on.

To learn more about the institute please visit the college’s website.