Students individually brainstorm different ideas based on the given prompt. They then combined their ideas as a team and chose one to work on throughout the event.
On March 26, the Doane Opportunities, Wealth, and Networking (OWN) organization held its annual Short and Scrappy event. Assistant Professor of Practice in Entrepreneurship, Lisa Tschauner, states that this event is where teams of participants use a creative process based on design-thinking strategies to ideate different solutions to existing problems or challenges.
“The goal is to use divergent thinking to individually come up with as many ideas as possible in a short amount of time,” Tschauner said. “Then collaborate with teammates to cluster and theme the ideas together and find a feasible solution that incorporates innovation and uniqueness.”
For this event, OWN was able to merge Short and Scrappy with another event called the Business Cultivate Challenge where they actually addressed challenges from a real-world business which was Reliant Transportation in Lincoln. Tschauner thinks that the OWN team did a nice job hosting the event and thinks that all of the students came up with great ideas.
“They learned about free no-code tools they can use to prototype solutions leading to new products and services that can be offered in response to challenges and opportunities,” Tschauner said. “Students also learned the importance of designing solutions that bring value to users and making that experience the best it can be. This was also another great chance for Doane University students to learn about entrepreneurship and the student organization OWN.”
Tschauner hopes that this event will continue in the years to come and she hopes that OWN will make it part of their yearly planning. She thinks that this event is a great way for students to connect and see the immediate results of their work.
“It is also a great way for them to connect with potential employers and small businesses, and each other,” said Tschauner. “In the future, it would be great to have more students attend and more faculty add this and their curriculum as this event is very interdisciplinary and can help students realize how they might start a business or launch an idea in their field of study.”
This group meets formally once a month often with special activities like guest speakers, professional photos and networking with professionals. They also host a variety of different events which include OWN Your Voice Speaker Series where they feature entrepreneurs who are Doane alumni and well-known successful founders. They also have Big Idea Doane, a partnership with the Entrepreneurship Department which is a business pitch competition open to all Doane students with the opportunity to win money, and many other events.
“Becoming a part of an organization like OWN or attending any of the events and programs offered by the Entrepreneurship Department is a great way to forge that path,” Tschauner said. “We are currently seeking students who want to take over the leadership of OWN for the 2024 to 2025 school year. We have positions as the CEO, COO/CMO, CIO and CFO, with each person earning a scholarship for their efforts leading the group.”
If you or someone you know is interested in OWN or wants to become one of these positions they can reach out to Tschauner at lisa.tschauner@doane.edu or the current CEO senior Zack Perez at zack.perez@doane.edu by April 10.
