Young, smart and ready for riches

Not counting on corporate America

This generation of college entrepreneurs also understands there is no longer such a thing as job security. After the disasters of Enron and WorldCom and a stream of headlines announcing layoffs at major corporations, these students aren't counting on corporate America for lifelong employment. They're comfortable taking their futures into their own hands.

While compiling our list, we made two other observations that surprised us.

First, though the statistics say women are the fastest-growing segment of entrepreneurs, only a handful submitted entries for the Dorm-Based 20. What does this suggest? Perhaps women are not starting as young and are instead going into business for themselves only after they become frustrated with the male-dominated corporate workplace a few years later.

Doing good while doing well

A second surprise came in the form of the contestants' sense of social responsibility. Forget the "greed is good" mentality that businesspeople are sometimes associated with. Every winner we talked to, without prompting, mentioned ways in which he would like to become involved in philanthropy and social venturing.

Magician Sherlock wants to start a foundation for aspiring magic practitioners. Web guru Tabar wants to build sites that help developing countries. Poop scooper Wood is interested in starting a pet-adoption service.

Naive? Idealistic? Maybe. But these students are nearly as passionate about helping other people as they are about growing profitable businesses. Apparently, these young entrepreneurs understand how powerful it is to run a business, and they utilize the resources generated by their businesses to address the ills confronting society.

Put it all together, and you begin to realize that college today is a phenomenal breeding ground for tomorrow's business leaders. The students have technical know-how, business skills, wisdom and a sense of duty. Combine that with the passion to live true to their dreams, and you've got the Dorm-Based 20.

We hope you find inspiration in their stories and agree that you're likely reading about tomorrow's business icons.

This article was reported and written by Rich Sloan for StartupNation.

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