This article is the first of a series that will feature the day-to-day hustle of CoBA student organizations.

Attention aspiring entrepreneurs: the College Entrepreneurs’ Organization (CEO) is ready to get down to business.

Known for bringing the national Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour to UTEP, CEO has quietly made a name for itself in the College of Business. Although the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour will not make a stop in El Paso this school year, CEO is already prepping for a huge semester.

Having had the opportunity to attend a few CEO meetings this semester, I can vouch that the meetings are informational but concise, professional yet entertaining. CEO President Diego Rico systematically works through the meeting presentation by outlining the organization’s initiatives and then explaining how the initiatives fit into the organization’s vision.

The emphasis of the meetings has been CEO’s two main projects for the school year: the 2009 National CEO Conference and the Camino Real Venture Competition.

The 2009 National CEO Conference is an opportunity to network with different CEO chapters from 140 different university campuses. The highlight of the conference is the Elevator Pitch Competition, a competition which the UTEP CEO is already vigorously preparing for. The competition?  “Tell me about your business within the time that it would take to ride up an elevator.”

The purpose of the Camino Real Venture Competition, according to the UTEP CoBA website, “is to provide a venue for young entrepreneurs to develop a business concept from planning stage, to start up, and hopefully to product commercialization.” Although CEO assisted with the competition last year, this year they plan to actually participate. Although more details are still left to be unraveled, the lone prospect of competing in a venture competition presents an exciting opportunity for entrepreneurs to practice the process necessary to successfully develop and sell a business plan.

CEO is an organization that should be on every prospective or practicing entrepreneur’s radar. We will keep you updated with any future developments.

CEO meetings: Every Wednesday at 4:00pm in CoBA room 312.
Contact: ceoutep@gmail.com, President Diego Rico (darico@miners.utep.edu)