The Commerce Times

TRS welcomes a new face to the Entrepreneurship Program

Dr. Alan Carsrud speaks at CCSBE conference. Photo courtesy Anthony Damtsis

November 10, 2009 0 | By Christine Fitzgerald

On October 16, Rein Peterson told an audience at the Canadian Council of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (CCSBE) that the Ryerson entrepreneurship program would reach new heights with the help of Dr. Alan Carsrud.

“He promises to put Ryerson on the map as the place to study entrepreneurship,” Peterson said during the conference, held at the Ted Rogers School of Management building on October 17.

Carsrud now occupies the Loretta Rogers Chair in Entrepreneurship at the Ted Rogers School of Management.

Having taken his expertise to universities across the U.S. and even contributing to research ventures in Finland, the Ryerson business faculty is right to be excited. But Carsrud remains humble. “Rein wishes I could [put Ryerson on the map]. I’ll do what I can,” he said.

During his speech at the CCSBE conference, he revealed that growth and profitability in a company are not interchangeable terms and that the best idea for new businesses is to focus on profit rather than growth. “In my 35 years as an entrepreneurial professor,” Carsrud said in his address, “I have never heard someone say ‘my goal is to hire people.’”

This is exactly the kind of incontrovertible statement that students will find invaluable. Ryerson has been welcoming to the newcomer, but Carsrud is still making the transition.

“Coming from Miami is a big adjustment,” he said later. He does not attribute his difficulty to the cold weather; something he adapted to during his time in Finland. “Leaving behind… my dogs and my art collection [was the most difficult].”

Ryerson University itself has made a good first impression. “It’s great here,” he said. “They care about the students in a way that is a rarity.”