CAN ENTREPRENEURS BE MADE OR ARE THEY BORN? Newtown Square Native Bryson Craft Finds Out as He Takes Part in Weeklong Entrepreneurial Immersion

Early-stage entrepreneurship is at its highest level of popularity since Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) began tracking it in 1999—and programs like LehighSiliconValley are helping students interested in embarking on an entrepreneurial endeavor. The weeklong summit through Lehigh University’s Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Innovation (ranked one of the country’s Top 25 Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Programs by Entrepreneur magazine) brings 60 Lehigh University students—together with entrepreneurs, inventors, CEOs, venture capitalists and others who play key roles in the building of new enterprises from seed to startup to expansion and exit stage.

“I have always been creative with a desire to change or improve how something is done or performed. I want to take my passion for change and use it to make a difference in the world,” said Craft. “As a division I athlete I am able to use my strengths of competitiveness, ability to overcome adversity and ability to face fear to make me successful as an entrepreneur. ‘Innovation,’ ‘creativity’ and ‘passion’ are three words that I tie to entrepreneurship, which are also three words that I find very relevant to me.”

The question remains: Can entrepreneurship actually be taught? Two of last year’s participants, Jake Huber and Greg Horn, think so. Since attending LSV last year, Huber and Horn moved to Silicon Valley and created Gigawatt, an online crowdfunding platform for colleges that engages young alumni. Only time will tell if they end up as the next Mark Zuckerberg and Sean Parker. But stories like theirs are inspirational to Bryson, and we will be keeping an eye on him to see where his entrepreneurial dreams take him.