Retired businessman Thomas P. Brown Jr., his wife Jessie Brown and their son Thomas P. Brown III have made a $100,000 gift to Coastal Carolina University. The gift will establish the Each One Teach One Entrepreneurship Institute in CCU's E. Craig Wall College of Business Administration as well as initiate funding for the TPJ Brown Entrepreneurship Scholars, a new scholarship program for at-risk students interested in pursuing business careers.

Jessie Brown is a retired Coastal education professor and associate dean, and Thomas P. Brown III, a Coastal 2005 alumnus, is a supervisor for Famous Brand Shoes and is enrolled in Seton Hall's master's degree program in Newark, N.J.

The goal of the Each One Teach One Entrepreneurship Institute is to mentor at-risk middle and high school students, cultivate their desire to enter the business field, and provide guided learning experiences designed to help them explore the possibility of starting their own business. The institute will focus on assisting at-risk students who are potential entrepreneurs to identify business opportunities, create business plans, find sources of funding and staffing, and bring their ideas to fruition through product development, marketing and sales.

Coastal students who are selected as TPJ Brown Entrepreneurship Scholars will take specialized training classes in business operations and management taught by members of the Wall College of Business Retired Executive Board, advisers to the program. TPJ Scholars will share the knowledge and experience they gain from the program with selected area middle and high school at-risk students in the greater Conway area. Organizers of the program anticipate expanding the program across the five-county area that Coastal serves. The program will also include internships and summer learning projects.

"The Brown family is privileged to give this gift to Coastal as evidence of our faith in God, who has blessed us to be able to establish this institute for His glory to benefit at-risk children in our community," said Thomas P. Brown Jr., who is retired from business after 40 years.

"We believe that through their early exposure to business, young people can be successfully motivated, nurtured and given the education and real life experiences that are pivotal to the accomplishment of their dreams and that will enable them to thrive as adults in the American way."

The Browns invite other donors to contribute to the institute in order to sustain it for future generations. "Providing scholarships and internship opportunities for these students has the potential to transform lives in powerful ways. This gift is only a portion of what is needed to ensure the viability and sustainability of this program," said Brown.

For more information about the Each One Teach One Entrepreneurship Institute, contact Emma Savage-Davis, director of the Center for Education and Community, at (843) 349-2672 or Ned Cohen, Director of the Wall Center for Excellence, at (843) 349-4186.

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