ST. LOUIS – Entrepreneurship is for everyone. 

When Lewis Sheats joined Saint Louis University as the director of the Chaifetz Center for Entrepreneurship in late 2021, one of his goals was to expand opportunities for everyone at the University to engage with entrepreneurship.

Over his three semesters at SLU enrollment in his Intro to Entrepreneurship class has steadily increased. 

“My ultimate goal is to see us get to a point where it is maybe half business students and half students from other disciplines,” he said. “We want to spark curiosity and facilitate entrepreneurship across campus.” 

Nineteen months into Sheats’ tenure, the Chaifetz Center for Entrepreneurship at Saint Louis University has been named a finalist for the 2023 St. Louis Inno Fire Awards. The St. Louis Business Journal will name the winners at a celebration on July 18.

The Fire Awards, now in its second year, recognize companies and organizations setting the innovation and entrepreneurial communities ablaze. The Center for Entrepreneurship is among 11 startups, companies and organizations named as finalists.

The 11 finalists are classified as ag-tech, biotech/health care, software/innovation or fire starters/community builders.

The Center for Entrepreneurship is among four finalists in the fire starters/community builders category, along with Access Point, the Minority Entrepreneurship Collaborative Center for Advancement (MECCA) at Harris-Stowe State University and the Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Washington University. 

The finalists were sourced through nominations and chosen by the St. Louis Inno editorial team. For each category, one winner will be selected from the finalists, with a judging panel of local innovation leaders choosing the winners.

St. Louis Inno noted in its announcement that the Center had a renaissance over the last academic year, beginning with Sheats’ hiring.

He joined SLU after serving as the assistant vice provost for entrepreneurship at North Carolina State University and executive director of the NC State Entrepreneurship Clinic.  

“I think my hiring was a part of it – the Center had been dormant for three years,” Sheats said. 

Founded in 1987, the Chaifetz Center for Entrepreneurship develops and delivers innovative high school, college and community programs to promote entrepreneurship through education.

In the past year, the Center has launched new programming, hosted 50-plus events, and created a new space for student interaction. Sheats said moving the Center to a new physical space in the School of Business has allowed for more collaboration.

“We’ve created this co-working space where students can come in at any time and work together,” Sheats said. “We’re open for anyone to come and ask questions.”

Sheats said he wants SLU students to know that the Center is there to help them with all aspects of entrepreneurship.

“They don’t all have to come in with a concept or a business they want to launch,” he said. “We are trying to teach students to recognize opportunities where they are. That can include building teams, articulating the right idea to the right audience, whether that is a manager, a team member, or a customer.”

SLU faculty across campus are the Center’s biggest marketers and cheerleaders, Sheats said. 

“The faculty engagement has been great,” he said. “We’ve had so much interest from faculty reaching out for class projects, encouraging their students and mentoring with our workshops.”

The Center started a new mentorship program which includes three in-person events where participants can engage with each other and the program topic, an online platform for students to interact with SLU alums and mentors worldwide. 

“St. Louis is a really interesting entrepreneurial ecosystem that is open and available,” Sheats said. “We have some unique advantages with geospatial, ag tech and the life sciences, but we are open to all. It’s a great place for businesses to learn quickly and reach the market.”

About the Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business

Founded in 1910, the Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business at Saint Louis University has shaped the future of industry for more than a century. As one of the oldest business schools west of the Mississippi, the Chaifetz School has built a reputation as a leader in business education committed to innovation, inclusion and impact and recognized with eight undergraduate and graduate programs nationally ranked by U.S. News & World Report.

About Saint Louis University

Founded in 1818, Saint Louis University is one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious Catholic institutions. Rooted in Jesuit values and its pioneering history as the first university west of the Mississippi River, SLU offers more than 13,500 students a rigorous, transformative education of the whole person. At the core of the University’s diverse community of scholars is SLU’s service-focused mission, which challenges and prepares students to make the world a better, more just place.