The energy and excitement came crackling through the phone. John Sammut BS ’88 was on the line, and he was exuding enthusiasm for his latest project, Introduction to Entrepreneurship undergraduate course in Lawrence Technological University’s College of Business and Information Technology.
The Introduction to Entrepreneurship course is barely one-semester old, but it is already making a mark on its students and on the CoBIT program as a whole. This fast start is fully in the style of Sammut, the course’s leader and greatest champion. In this era of “Shark Tank” and Elon Musk, the term “serial entrepreneur” has become part of the lexicon, with promoters draping themselves in this identity. For Sammut, who has never aspired to such a designation, the term actually does apply, with a long string of successes in taking small electrical engineering shops, growing them beyond all projected potential by expanding their markets and reach, ultimately selling them and then moving on to the next challenge in an undiscovered business. From the standpoint of experience, attitude and values, he is the absolute right person to lead the course at CoBIT.
The introductory course consists of three-hour classes, with the last part of each class period featuring a guest speaker, an LTU alumnus who has started an enterprise.
In the first quarter of the course, students are looking for problems to solve. The sessions focus on the underlying question facing any entrepreneur: how and where do you start? Customer research can identify the size of an opportunity and may uncover an underserved market.
Sammut emphasizes the role of the guest speakers in the class and the real-world value they bring. From the speakers, students learn about acquiring an existing company, marketing the business, and the importance of factors such as succession planning. The speakers, he says, “were not 4.0, they were average students. But they developed grit.”
The other key course component is access to the Centrepolis Accelerator business incubator. Sammut cannot say enough about the potential for Centrepolis’ involvement in taking student projects as new enterprises in the marketplace. Centrepolis can add support to the student business plan, through investor presentations, at no cost to the students. Sammut says, “It is a multiple of ten” if a business idea has gone through an incubator like Centrepolis. “Any student can do this.”
That last statement reflects a deeply-held belief Sammut has in the nature of entrepreneurship. “You don’t have to be Elon Musk,” he says. The students who thrive in entrepreneurship, and most entrepreneurs, “aren’t gifted.” They “learned. There is no such thing as failure – you just learn. And keep growing.” He sees at LTU that the students “develop grit together. They lean on each other.”
LTU’s “secret sauce” grabbed Sammut early. Time spent at the Summer Science Institute as a high school student helped sharpen his career focus. He was an undergraduate at LTU with a dual major in Electrical Engineering and Business, packing 23 hours per term into four years.
Sammut joined Ford as an electrical engineer after graduating. He found his real momentum; however, after leaving Ford for the first of several positions at smaller electrical product suppliers. At each company, he dramatically increased sales and grew the business.
In recent years, Sammut has been talking with LTU about teaching entrepreneurship. After selling his businesses, “this was the thing to do.” He wants to build on Introduction to Entrepreneurship and develop this study into a minor. With Sammut’s history, it is not a matter of if, but when.
By: Pete Hollinshead
