Student entrepreneurship hub opens, assists in business development

WEST LAFAEYETTE, Ind. – Entrepreneurial students may find a home for their businesses and ideas at the Anvil, http://theanvil.us/, which opens Monday (Aug. 26) and is located at 1601 State St. in West Lafayette, Ind.

Founded by student entrepreneurs Mike Asem, co-founder of the startup Tebogo LLC, and Chris MacPherson, co-founder of Kyk Energy Inc., the Anvil contains conference rooms for meetings, networking space and will host space to house student businesses. Asem, who is a liberal arts undergraduate, said the Anvil's mission is to expand Purdue's entrepreneurial community.

 "We wanted to create a place that's sole purpose was to help students take actionable steps to take their ideas further and form a community of innovators and visionaries," Asem said. "The Anvil will provide the resources, amenities, community and infrastructure to help founders and teams take an idea from their dorm room or apartment to an office in the Purdue Research Park, or wherever they want to go."

MacPherson, who is a Krannert School of Management undergraduate and has completed the Purdue Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation program, said that the Anvil provides students with the opportunity to meet and work around other enterprising individuals.

"Students will be able to meet other like-minded students from all over campus, but each with individual skill sets," he said. "A non-technical business student with an idea for an app may be able to meet a tech-savvy student who can code as well as an artistic designer who can design something remarkable for example."       

The Anvil will host events such as tech talks, workshops and investor networking sessions, all of which are free. Asem said that these events assist in personal development as well as business development.

 "These events enrich the entrepreneurial capabilities of students and their business teams," he said. "Workshops can help the students know how to strengthen leadership and business structure including case-by-case advising sessions with legal, banking or accounting service providers so they can learn what steps to take next and how to improve their business."                      

Writer: Andrew Gunter, (765) 588-3341, marketing@prf.org

Sources:  D. Mike Asem, d.mike.asem@gmail.com