The Entrepreneurship Minor provides students with real-world hands-on learning entrepreneurial experiences, connecting them with industry leaders and innovators, mentorship opportunities, and the skills needed to think and act entrepreneurially. Our interdisciplinary learning environment and cross campus partnerships make the Entrepreneurship Minor a complement to any major.
The Entrepreneurship Minor within the Shuford Program consists of FIVE (5) courses AND a 320-hour internship completed in a specific order.
These courses cannot be taken Pass/Fail to count towards the minor – course work must earn a letter grade. Students must take at least nine hours of their minor “core” requirements at UNC – Chapel Hill and earn a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.000 in those minor core requirements.
Admission into the Entrepreneurship Minor is required to declare this course of study. Applications open twice a year at the beginning of each semester.
The core course sequence for the Entrepreneurship Minor is as follows:
Grading Status: Letter Grade
Credit Hours: 3
ECON 125 Introduction to Entrepreneurship is the first required course in the Entrepreneurship Minor. It exposes students to building the foundational skills to identify and develop innovative entrepreneurial venture ideas and opportunities. It covers both theoretical frameworks and practical examples of how to think like an entrepreneur and identify innovative opportunities. Students learn about innovating, marshalling limited resources, inspiring teams, and persisting through challenges and uncertainty, often by trying, learning from what happens, and trying something better. Inherent in the process, students are exposed to the skills, joys, and frustrations of being an entrepreneur.
The course employs experiential methods of teaching so students learn by doing as they develop the skills, tools, and mindsets that help them in their entrepreneurial path both in organizations they start or join, as well as in their personal life. Students apply the concepts of high-performing teams, design thinking, lean startup, and pitching, as well as a range of different tools for evaluating venture feasibility and viability.
ECON 125 is the prerequisite to apply to the Entrepreneurship Minor. This course must be completed or in progress when a student applies for admission into the Entrepreneurship Minor.
ECON 125 is offered during both Fall AND Spring Semesters and is open to all UNC-Chapel Hill undergraduate students. It fulfills either the FC-CREATE (IDEAs in Action Gen Ed) or SS (Making Connections Gen Ed) requirement.
Professor: Chris Mumford
Prerequisites & Permissions: ECON 125 OR permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite
Grading Status: Letter Grade
Credit Hours: 3
ECON 325 Entrepreneurship: Principles, Concepts, Frameworks, and Fluency is the foundational course in the Entrepreneurship Minor. This course is designed to help students prepare for the 21st Century and provides a foundation in key principles, concepts, and fluency in entrepreneurship, specifically in the areas of design thinking, understanding consumers and customers, company strategy, and entrepreneurial finance and capital formation.
Students will study the building blocks of innovation while preparing for their careers and network, learning important skills and tools important in startups and growth companies such as branding, storytelling and video making. The course is organized in three sections: In Person/Digital Reputation Skills, Market Research Report, and Design Thinking Sprint. The latter two sections are group projects to reflect how a modern workforce is organized. Course success will be determined by in-class participation and strong group work. These projects are designed to get students out of their comfort zone and adapt to real constraints. The course is about changing life trajectories and thinking critically about the successes and failures of different start-ups and entrepreneurial ventures.
Students must complete ECON 325 by the end of their junior year BEFORE completing the required 320-hour internship.
ECON 325 is offered during both Fall AND Spring Semesters & Maymester and is restricted to declared & admitted Entrepreneurship Minor students. An Honors version is available in alternating years during the Spring Semester.
Professor: Varies by Course
Prerequisites & Permissions: ECON 125 & ECON 325 OR permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite
Grading Status: Letter Grade
Credit Hours: 3
The track course expands on the concepts learned in ECON 125 and ECON 325 in a field of interest to students. Designed to provide opportunities to delve deeper into a particular application of entrepreneurship, students work in teams to develop their own projects around the topics of the track. To fulfill this requirement, students may enroll in a section of ECON 327 OR an approved course in another department.
For a complete track course listing, click here.
Professor: Bernard Bell
Prerequisites & Permissions: ECON 125, ECON 325, AND an internship approved by the Shuford Program’s Director of Internships & Career Services
Grading Status: Letter Grade
Credit Hours: 3
ECON 393 Practicum in Entrepreneurship is the capstone course in the Entrepreneurship Minor. This course is a hands-on learning lab to prepare students for entrepreneurial life – it has been designed to enlighten students on the tools and skills required to be an outstanding entrepreneur, founder, investor, or employee. This course introduces students to speakers, readings, podcasts, exercises, assignments, and practical lessons about entrepreneurship. It provides students with a critical analysis of their performance as seen through the experiences of founders, startup executives, and seasoned corporate professionals across a range of disciplines to better understand the entrepreneurial and business ecosystem. Students develop both practical skills of financial and operational management and soft skills for personal and professional development needed to be competitive in entrepreneurial activity. The goal of this course is to provide students with a curriculum that takes the design-thinking model and challenges them to apply it to their own life.
This course is best taken during a student’s senior year as it sets them up for success in choosing the next steps after graduation.
ECON 393 is offered during both Fall AND Spring Semesters and during Shuford Summer Away in Prague. It is restricted to declared & admitted Entrepreneurship Minor students who have submitted the required internship journal and requested enrollment via the registration form. Enrollment is controlled by the Shuford Program Coordinator, and students may not enroll themselves in the course through ConnectCarolina. It fulfills either the HI-INTERN (IDEAs in Action Gen Ed) or EE (Making Connections Gen Ed) requirement.
There are also additional Shuford Program courses available to Entrepreneurship Minor students that are not specifically required to fulfill minor requirements but may be beneficial for students. More information on those courses can be found below.
Professor: Robert McDonough
Prerequisites & Permissions: None
Grading Status: Letter Grade
Credit Hours: 3
ECON 111 can be used to fulfill the Principles of Economics requirement for the Entrepreneurship Minor.
This course presents the principles of microeconomics from the viewpoint of the entrepreneur. Students are introduced to the fundamental concepts of economics necessary to the understanding the theory and practice of entrepreneurship through the lens of fascinating case studies of entrepreneurs who did (or unfortunately didn’t) use economic principles to create transformational disruptions to existing businesses and markets. Case studies examining choices made by Lyft, Netflix, Partners in Health, Adidas, Tesla, Facebook, and AIG help students apply economic principles to real-life examples, identify the economics principles those businesses recognized and exploited, and use those principles to solve the firms’ current economic challenges.
Students may complete ECON 101 OR ECON 111 to fulfill the Principles of Economics requirement for the minor. This course may be completed at any time before graduation.
ECON 111 is offered during either the Fall OR Spring Semester and is open to all UNC-Chapel Hill undergraduate students. It fulfills the FC-KNOWING requirement.
Grading Status: Pass/Fail
Credit Hours: 1-3
ECON 193 Internship is a variable credit course designed to provide Entrepreneurship Minor students the opportunity to earn course credit toward their required 320-hour internship. Students are NOT required to receive course credit unless required by their internship. Students may earn 1-3 credits based on the below hour requirement:
While the university caps internship credit hours at 150, the Entrepreneurship Minor requires students to complete 320 hours to fulfill that requirement. This means students in the Entrepreneurship Minor must complete a 320-hour internship, but can also earn up to 3 credit hours for some of the hours from that internship. Credit hours earned from ECON 193 generally count toward the 120 hours needed for graduation. However, students may NOT earn more than 3 credit hours for internships in the Department of Economics, OR 12 credit hours for internships and/or independent studies across departments towards the 120 hours needed for graduation from the College of Arts and Sciences. The course may be repeated for credit for a total of 3 total credits and/or 3 total completions.
Students may earn academic credit EITHER during the semester or term they are completing the internship OR the semester following the completion of the internship, UNLESS they are an international student. International students in F-1 status must be concurrently enrolled in ECON 193 while completing the internship in order to be eligible for CPT authorization, and should contact ISSS for additional guidance before initiating this process.
While there are no course meetings during the term, the required final deliverable for the course is the Internship Journal, which is also the required deliverable for enrollment in ECON 393, the capstone course. This journal must be submitted via the ECON 393 Registration Form by EITHER the first day of class for the term in which students would like to register for ECON 193 (for fall or spring terms) OR the last day of class for the term in which students would like to register (for all summer terms). Failure to submit the internship journal on time will result in receiving an incomplete or failing the course.
ECON 193 is offered during Summer Sessions I AND II & Fall AND Spring Semesters and is restricted to declared & admitted Entrepreneurship Minor students who have submitted the required learning contract and requested enrollment via the registration form. Enrollment is controlled by the Shuford Program Coordinator and students may not enroll themselves in the course through ConnectCarolina. It fulfills either the HI-INTERN (IDEAs in Action Gen Ed) or EE (Making Connections Gen Ed) requirement.
To request enrollment for ECON 193, click here.
Grading Status: Letter Grade
Credit Hours: 1
ECON 290 Special Topics: Personal Strategies for Professional Success is designed to help students be prepared for the challenges associated with transitioning from college to career. The primary focus will be to enhance the students’ personal resume, back story/storytelling ability, engagement/networking strategy to provide distinctive advantages in establishing a successful life after college and for years to come. Students will learn directly from Martin Godwin, who has spent almost 30 years in executive recruiting, including more than 15 years as an entrepreneur, partner, and Managing Partner of Cameron Carmichael – where he supports companies across a variety of industries, including healthcare, private equity, technology, consumer services and commercial/industrial enterprises – helping these partners recruit top talent to enhance their company’s success. As the Shuford Wellness Executive in Residence since 2022, he will draw upon his unique experience as he helps students understand the power of self-awareness, mental wellness and balance as it relates to life and career.
Enrollment for ECON 290 is open to all UNC-Chapel Hill undergraduate students; however, preference will be given to juniors & seniors who are declared & admitted Entrepreneurship Minor students.
For the 2025-2026 Academic Year, students must request enrollment. To request enrollment in ECON 290, click here.
Professor: TBD
Prerequisites & Permissions: ECON 125, ECON 325, completed Independent Study Learning Contract AND permission of the Shuford Program Academic Director AND the Economics Director of Undergraduate Studies
Grading Status: Letter Grade
Credit Hours: 1-3
ECON 396 Independent Study in Entrepreneurship is an opportunity for undergraduate students to explore an idea, contribute to research, or develop a project under the guidance of a faculty member with the Shuford Program in Entrepreneurship.
Before undertaking an independent study, students should check the course catalog to ensure that the topic they are interested in is not already covered by an existing course.
Credit hours earned from ECON 396 generally count toward the 120 hours needed for graduation. However, students may NOT earn more than 12 credit hours for internships and/or independent studies across departments towards the 120 hours needed for graduation from the College of Arts and Sciences. The course may be repeated for credit for a total of 12 total credits and/or 12 total completions.
Students interested in pursuing an independent study should reach out to Molly Matthews for more information.
The Entrepreneurship Minor is open to ALL undergraduate students, regardless of major. As of Spring 2025, 64% of undergraduate majors are represented in the Entrepreneurship Minor!
All core courses in the Entrepreneurship Minor are restricted to declared & admitted Entrepreneurship Minor students who have completed the required prerequisites EXCEPT for ECON 125 & ECON 111, which are both open to all undergraduate students.
No – ECON 57H, ECON 111, ECON 125, ECON 325, ECON 327, and ECON 393 cannot be counted toward an economics major.