About UMSL Accelerate UMSL Accelerate


ShareMentorship is one of the best gifts. Having someone you admire invest time and energy in your goals builds successful companies and careers. Likewise, transmitting your experiences to others is energizing; it’s what being an entrepreneur is about. Many of us are fond of our mentors, particularly if they took an interest in us while we were pushing our boulders uphill. But no one person has all the answers, and gathering multiple viewpoints is particularly important in our rapidly shifting world. As a 25-year member of Entrepreneurs’ Organization Forum, I know this firsthand. I’ve made monthly peer-mentoring sessions of 10 […]

Why Peer-to-Peer Mentorship Is Essential for Entrepreneurs


ShareConceptually, what it means to work has completely changed, thanks to increased mobility, ever-increasing digitization, and the gig economy. Within this exciting emerging world, entrepreneurship has taken a front-row seat in the lexicon of even the very young. The concept of the gold watch at the end of a 35-year employment stint has been shelved in favor of exciting possibilities that require calculated risk-taking and a passion to learn. At the same time, higher education is experiencing a similar disruption. Studies indicate that while around half of college campus students fit within the traditional age framework of 17 to 21, […]

What My Entrepreneurial Career of 20-Plus Years Taught Me ...


ShareEntrepreneur enthusiast Yaniv Dudaie grew up with interests in soccer, travel, business, and a love for different cultures. As a child, he wanted to own a hotel in Italy with a pizzeria attached to it. Now that he is college bound, Yaniv wants to learn how to develop and grow companies so his childhood dream could still come true. What will his next dream vision look like? He was born in Mexico, Grew up in Israel, and currently goes to school in St. Louis. Asides from his heavy involvement at UMSL Accelerate, his triple major in Finance, Logistics, and International […]

The Dream Catcher



ShareLeaving the last meeting for the day, Nino thought about his time spent working this close in the entrepreneurial environment and doing real business-related work outside of school which, as he found out, is challenging. It’s no piece of cake; there are seldom any textbook answers this time. He looks forward to absorbing as much as possible during the program so he can equip himself with this experience for the rest of his life. But it first begins at UMSL Accelerate and his go-ahead spirit. Nino Obanor grew up in Belgrade, Serbia, and then moved to the U.S. to start […]

Rise of the Go-Ahead Spirit


ShareUMSL’s first-ever dedicated College of Business Administration building is officially open for business! The building was funded by various corporate donors from different industries around the St. Louis region. One of those companies, Ameren, contributed to provide a dedicated student area at AB Hall. Asides from this contribution, Ameren is continuing its work with UMSL Accelerate for the long-term Ameren Accelerator that runs a cohort tailored to technology startups focused on shaping the future of renewable energy. So, what exactly is all the excitement about? For one thing, business students no longer need to feel like their resources are scattered […]

Cheers to New Business


Share Atop a breezy afternoon in Budapest, Tamas Javor was taking a walk down the street with his grandfather. He told his grandson that he would give him a quarter for every car he could name (make and model) on that street. A few blocks later, his grandfather quit the bet; Tamas, only 5 years old at the time, was already becoming too expensive. He loved cars and numbers, and knew, even at a young age, that finance would be in his future. He went on to attend the prestigious Corvinus University of Budapest, the top finance and economics institution […]

Driving Entrepreneurship



ShareRemember when we announced the pooling of money and resources into one spot that was meant to help develop companies and their products toward better energy? This awesome idea came in collaboration with Ameren and Capital Innovators. Fast-forward four months later, and Ameren has announced the seven-startup companies chosen to take on the cohort this season. This decision came after screening more than 200 companies from 31 countries that applied for the program.   The event was a raging success; you could smell the excitement in the air. Students, faculty, professionals, inventors, and investors, all in one room talking about […]

New Pathways to Energy


Share(From left to right: Mohammad Aljamaan, Rajabu Obede, Nino Obanor, Yaniv Dudaie)By Shante Gordon  By now, it’s no secret! Five to seven lucky companies, young entrepreneurs like yourself, will be handpicked by the Ameren Accelerator team for a chance at 100k in funding for their start up plus perks. With orientation and results on exactly which companies are going to be participating, only a little over a month away, we wanted to ask some of the business savvy students who applied how their company will help the future of clean energy, what do they wish to gain from some of […]

My Dormmate Is An Entrepreneur -The Ameren Accelerator Interns


ShareDuring a chilly winter evening at cortex’s weekly Venture Cafe, a couple of my buddies and I decided to attend a workshop that happened to start around the same time we were looking through the schedule. It was a session that gave me the first insight into what the startup culture of St. Louis is shaping up to be. Fast forward from that session, I also managed to land an interesting internship that, to say has given me great hands-on experience, is an understatement.  This is a short story about my discovery of ROW VIGOR, and a personal account on […]

Row your Stress Away: ROW VIGOR Comes to UMSL



ShareAs a proud member of the UMSL Accelerate “Entrepreneur Family,” I can tell you all of us here have our arms wide open and say “Welcome Home” to the University of Missouri- St. Louis’s innovation and entrepreneurship resource. Our family serves students, faculty, and the community anywhere from helping those with little experience in entrepreneurship develop an idea to a Fortune 500 company gain a competitive advantage through innovation. We are passionate about what we do and invite all those who feel the same about innovation and entrepreneurship to join our family, become successful, and change the world. Visit our website, email us, or […]

Welcome to the UMSL Entrepreneur Family