RALEIGH—Encouraging the business creators of tomorrow was the goal of an entrepreneurial Summit recently hosted at Shaw University.

The Summit was part of a larger White House initiative geared towards HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities.)

The event, which included a discussion on the Small Business Administration's programs and services and a panel of entrepreneurial success, brought the SBA’s Regional Administrator Ashley Bell to North Carolina. Bell says that entrepreneurship is an avenue more students should consider, as it is projected to be a large part of the economy in the future.

Bell says we live in a “gig economy,” referring to the fact that most students have had 5 or 6 jobs, or “gigs” by the age of 23; and so he says students should consider becoming entrepreneurs earlier to take advantage of that market.

Students have a resource partner in the Small Business Association, according to Bell, and he hopes that students take advantage of the many entrepreneurship opportunities it offers including business consulting, access to capital, mentoring, and training.

“We want to make sure that [students] have the resources necessary [to succeed,]” Bell says, “and they understand that SBA is a resource partner.”

Through the SBA, students are being given the opportunity to work with an experienced entrepreneur for 10 hours a week in an "apprentice-like setup," which will allow them to learn the ins-and-outs of entrepreneurship firsthand. The SBA is also the creator of Historically Underutilized Business Zones, which reserve a specific percentage of jobs for college students and residents in those areas and ensure contracts to small businesses that aim to be competitive.

Bell notes that entrepreneurship is "all about familiarity." He says that if students are normalized to the spirit of entrepreneurship, they will start to take risks in the business world on their own, which will be beneficial to the economy of the future.