San Diego State College of Business Administration, one of the largest business schools in the nation, with nearly 5,000 students, ranked among the top 25 entrepreneurial graduate programs in the U.S. News and World Report.
Leonard Lavin, founder of Alberto Culver—a Fortune 1000 company that includes products such as TRESemme, Noxzema, Nexxus and St Ives—has been actively involved in the futures of SDSU’s business graduates since 2005. He has been a guest lecturer and mentor to SDSU business administration students and made an impressive financial investment prompting SDSU to rename the Entrepreneurial Management Center as the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center.
His contributions have also created the Lavin Entrepreneur Program, which prepares a select group of students for careers through mentoring, site visits, a speaker series as well as the Lavin VentureStart program, which allows students to create a business model and nurture their business talents. These opportunities for SDSU students will prepare them for successful futures as businesspeople and entrepreneurs.
“I think what Leonard Lavin is doing with this particular gift … allowed us to create the Lavin Entrepreneur Program and the VentureStart Competition, which makes its way across campus, and we change peoples lives in both, and mostly students,” EMC Programs Director Bernhard Schroeder said.
Lavin’s investment will help more students succeed and will push SDSU toward its fundraising campaign goal of $500 million. It is currently at $360 million and continues to ascend the ranks of top public research universities. SDSU graduates’ impressive achievements continue to be fueled and motivated by generous donations of time and money from benefactors such as Lavin.
“And so I think the additional gift which he’s given us now, which names the center, is just going to allow us to do more across campus, get more students involved and, quite frankly, change more students’ lives,” Schroeder said.
SDSU’s Entrepreneurship Program has enjoyed great success, and through this endowment will be able to expand its reach to greater heights. Since 2008, 10 out of 68 Lavin entrepreneurs have founded their own companies. These companies include Shake Smart, San Diego Photography and Solo Eyewear. Businesses founded and co-founded by SDSU alumni include Costco, Volcom and Jack in the Box.
“I want to make a difference in the lives of undergraduate students,” Schroeder said. “That was the challenge. Now you craft something.”
