HispanicBusiness

Entrepreneurs, investors and mentors are expected to gather this week for the second Triangle Entrepreneurship Week, an initiative started in the area last year to help aid in the launch of new business ventures.

Events in this year's line-up include panel discussions on topics such as opportunities in the fashion industry, music and entertainment entrepreneurship, the role of government in start-ups, and raising money for a start-up business.

The programs kicked off in Raleigh on Monday, and will run through Friday. Starting Thursday, events will move to the American Tobacco campus in Durham. This is the Triangle Entrepreneurship Week's second year.

"The whole goal of the sessions that we hold, and how we hold them, is to connect, collaborate and create," said Jon Leonardo, founder of Triangle Entrepreneurship Week. "(It's) connecting entrepreneurs with local leaders, resources, money investors, that they may need, in hopes they can collaborate in the future, to create jobs and create growth."

Also this week at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a series of entrepreneurship-focused events are being held this week in conjunction with Global Entrepreneurship Week, which runs through Sunday.

Mathilde Verdier, a coordinator of the university's celebration of Global Entrepreneurship Week, said the events on the campus are meant to help connect students who may consider entrepreneurship with resources on and off the campus.

"We're trying to reach out to students who may not have considered entrepreneurship as a path, along with many different disciplines, whether they're studying the arts, or public health, or journalism, or business, or computer science, and just promote entrepreneurship on campus," Verdier said.

The events started Monday and will run through Sunday. The event's major sponsors are Innovate@Carolina, the chancellor-led initiative started in 2010 to promote entrepreneurship on campus, Verdier said, and the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise.

Events included a talk on Monday evening by Molly Barker, founder of the nonprofit Girls on the Run that offers physical and emotional training for girls. There will also be panel discussions, networking events, and career panels.

The events at UNC-Chapel Hill will conclude with an "Entrepreneurathon" competition on Saturday and Sunday. Participants will form teams to create product prototypes, such as a mobile software application, Verdier said.