<p>Dear AMA Faculty Liaison:</p><p>I’m writing to invite you and your AMA chapter to participate in “Take an Entrepreneur to Lunch,” a signature initiative of Global Entrepreneurship Week being sponsored by AMA and the Acton Foundation for Entrepreneurial Excellence.</p><p>Students set up a meeting with an entrepreneur, interview them about their entrepreneur journey (the challenges and successes) as well as about marketing and sales and then, if inspired, nominate the entrepreneur as a hero. Once all nominations have been collected, 25 American Marketing Association Collegiate members will be named semi-finalists and receive a $400 grant to pay for registration and other fees to attend the 2009 AMA Annual Collegiate Conference. At the conference, three winners grants to pay for their education expenses (third place $500, second place $750 and first place $1,000).</p><p>“Take an Entrepreneur to Lunch” is also a great opportunity for a class project and/or extra credit project:  Students learn about entrepreneurship first-hand from successful entrepreneurs  Students will learn about successful and innovative marketing and sales strategies  Students learn how to network successfully and get their foot in the door  Students have an opportunity to build their network  Students may discover a new mentor or potential guest speaker  Students will find role models, inspiration and wisdom  Students will write an essay/story on key aspects of entrepreneurial heroes</p><p>Attached is a “how to” kit for students. There are lots of different models for deploying this:</p><p> Do as an AMA collegiate chapter project  Do as part of a class assignment; have the hero story essay submitted as work.  Do for extra credit.  Do as part of an existing mentoring or networking project.</p><p>During a pilot test of the initiative, students at Clarkson University developed a model where a very confident student took the first entrepreneur to lunch and had another club member join him so that she could get comfortable with the concept. He then asked her to take another entrepreneur to lunch but to also take a new student too, again, get more students comfortable. “The ‘pyramid’ model really worked well and I would encourage other to give it a try,” said a Clarkson faculty member.</p><p>And remember, while it’s called “Take an Entrepreneur to Lunch” it doesn’t have to be lunch – for most busy entrepreneurs a 30 minute meeting in his or her office will do just fine and be all that the students can schedule.</p><p>Since nominations are due by November 23 (the conclusion of Global Entrepreneurship Week), it’s important to get students started right away so they have time to schedule a meeting.</p>