FORT YATES, ND - Babson College Professor Jeffry Timmons, better known as “The Johnny Appleseed of Entrepreneurship Education,” will plant his passion for start-up businesses March 13-14, 2006 at Sitting Bull College in Fort Yates, ND.

Podcast: Prof. Timmons talks with Ron Walters of Sitting Bull College on KLND FM 89.5 in Little Eagle, South Dakota, serving "the communities of the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Nations."

Timmons will reflect on his life as an entrepreneur and discuss qualities common to entrepreneurs during the Circle of Friends program sponsored by Sitting Bull College, where business administration studies is one of the most popular academic disciplines among students. Tribal government officials, Native American business owners, and educators from several state universities have been invited to gather in Fort Yates, ND for Timmons’ presentation.

“Economic development through higher education is critical to the success of Sitting Bull College and Dr. Timmons entrepreneurial spirit and wisdom on business startups is a perfect fit for our college’s effort in supporting Native American entrepreneurs,” said Dr. Laurel Vermillion, interim president at Sitting Bull College.

Babson College is the top-ranked business school in the world for entrepreneurship education.  Timmons takes seriously the business school’s mission to inspire entrepreneurial thinking and cultivate entrepreneurial leadership in any organization or society.

“Native Americans are taking full advantage of entrepreneurial opportunities,” Timmons said.  “Since 1992, when I started the Native American Initiative at Babson College, numerous workshops have been held and case studies written to help ignite a spirit of Entrepreneurship at Sitting Bull College and many other Native American institutions around the country.”

For more than a decade, Timmons has facilitated Babson scholarships for Tribal College participants at Babson’s Symposia for Entrepreneurship Educators. He has mentored Native American faculty and presented his perspective on the “Entrepreneurial Revolution” at Native American conferences like The Sovereignty Symposium hosted by the University of Tulsa and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society. Timmons is also the benefactor of a scholarship fund for first generation students who claim Native American heritage at Colgate University, his alma mater.

Timmons’ two-day schedule includes a tour of the new Sitting Bull College campus, a visit to a thriving Buffalo ranch and partaking in an Elder’s traditional meal.  As a guest of the Standing Rock community, he may even try his hand at black jack at the Prairie Knights Casino & Resort, where he will be lodged.

Timmons has authored several books including the leading textbook New Venture Creation, 6th ed. (2003); Venture Capital at the Crossroads, with Babson colleague William D. Bygrave (1992); and the groundbreaking The Entrepreneurial Mind (1989). He has co-authored Business Plans That Work (2004) and How To Raise Capital: Techniques and Strategies for Financing and Valuing Your Small Business (2005) with Stephen Spinelli and Andrew Zacharakis.

For additional information about Sitting Bull College’s Circle of Friends program or Dr. Timmons’ presentation on Entrepreneurship contact Ron Walters at (701) 854-3861.