The Daily Tell

Support options for existing entrepreneurs are difficult to find during the current economic crisis, and even more so for prospective entrepreneurs such as college students.

To help address this gap, Ron McDaniel – a 1969 University of Dayton alumnus – has donated $1 million to launch an undergraduate angel investment group called Flyer Angels.

The program, which is expected to launch in 2010, will allow undergraduate entrepreneurship majors to partner with a local angel organization to evaluate new business plans for potential investment. In addition to researching and discussing the business plans, the students will be able to help make decisions about investments.

"While most university angel programs operate in graduate programs or through networks where alumni invest in other alumni, Flyer Angels primarily will benefit undergraduate students," said Matthew Shank, dean of the School of Business Administration. "There are very few universities in the country that offer this sort of experience for their undergraduate students."

This is a particularly important program for the Ohio-based University of Dayton, as entrepreneurship is the business school’s fastest growing major. The Flyer Angels initiative will help keep the entrepreneurship department high in the rankings of the country’s top entrepreneurship programs.

Not only will the initiative benefit prospective entrepreneurs, but it will also help many local businesses receive the seed money they need to get up and running.

The alumnus donor, Ron McDaniel, knows firsthand about the importance of pursuing entrepreneurship opportunities – McDaniel is the owner of Chicago-based Western-Cullen-Hayes, one of the country’s leading railroad manufacturing firms.

To earn that position, McDaniel worked for almost 50 years in the railroad industry, starting as a trainee draftsman and then working his way through evening classes at the University of Dayton.

McDaniel’s advice to budding entrepreneurs in an interview with the university provides a bit of insight into his motivation for funding the Flyer Angels program, telling students that one of the most important things they can do is to "recognize opportunities."