Morgan Stanley. Submitted photo
Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship hosts summit, business pitch competition
The University of Mississippi Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship will host its sixth annual REDe Entrepreneurship Summit on November 7, 2024, in the Gertrude C. Ford Ole Miss Student Union.
The free event, set for from 9:30-11 a.m., aims to inspire students to create their own businesses.
“We want to engage students of all majors,” said Tong Meng, director of programs and an instructor at the CIE. “Everybody on campus and in the community is welcome to attend the summit.”
Ole Miss alumni Morgan Stanley, co-founder and president of BrainTrust, and Tanner McCraney, co-founder and CEO at Rumie, are keynote speakers for the event.
Stanley traveled the world helping multimillion-dollar businesses scale their companies and implement successful new strategies before joining BrainTrust, a membership organization dedicated to giving women entrepreneurs equal opportunity to build financial independence, wealth and influence.
“I really wanted to focus more on women because there’s only 2% of women entrepreneurs that ever make it past $1 million in revenue,” said Stanley, a 2018 graduate.
Stanley will share her “different route to entrepreneurship,” which includes transitioning from business development director to co-founder of the Nashville-based business. Her message to students emphasizes the importance of saying yes to opportunities.
“Saying yes to opportunities opened doors for me that I could never imagine,” she said. “I didn’t have the idea to start BrainTrust, but what I did have was the grit and hard work to work alongside the founder to propel her idea.”
Originally a chemistry major aiming for medical school, McCraney started his entrepreneurial journey after a sour Facebook Marketplace experience.
He and his co-founders created Rumie, an exclusive marketplace app for college students.
“It’s really important to hear the wins and losses from people that have kind of thrown themselves out there and started from scratch to try to build something from nothing,” McCraney said.
“You can’t let the fear of failure or exposure keep you from starting.”
After they earned $15,000 at the 2022 Gillespie Business Plan Competition, McCraney bumped chemistry to a minor, earned his degree in entrepreneurship and completed an accelerated MBA program at Ole Miss in August 2023.
More than 60,000 students have used Rumie at more than 1,000 universities.
As the company continues to expand, McCraney wants more students to understand the possibilities of entrepreneurship, especially with the assistance of the CIE.
“We would not be where we are without the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship,” he said. “They not only gave us knowledge, but helped connect us to funding and got us meetings with the chancellor.
“Once we left campus, we were confident that we could take on the world.”
The CIE will also host the Servin’ the South Business Model Competition on November 7.
Dozens of budding entrepreneurs from several Southeastern Conference institutions will compete for a
$10,000 grand prize.
The final round is open to the public and begins around 2:30 pm in Jackson Avenue Center, Auditorium B.
By Marvis Herring
