TIGERVILLE, S.C. (courtesy ngu.edu) North Greenville University (NGU) and OneLifeX (OLX) have aligned to provide OLX students with innovative hands-on coursework. The partnership, which begins this academic year, will equip students with skills to not only get started in a career but instill passion and rapid progression in a profession.
OLX, based in Marietta, S.C., is an eight-month Christian entrepreneurship camp (gap year experience) designed to teach a small group of inspiring young leaders how to start and run a business all while earning credits towards their college degree.
The program’s mission is to take students and equip them in new life skills needed to not only get started in a business career but also to progress rapidly through it — all while improving themselves personally and discovering a hidden passion for what is beyond them. The business of OLX is to empower the next generation of leaders to perform past what is required of them and stay focused on their true reason for life in Christ and the marketplace.
“In our search for the ideal institutional partner, we looked for an organization that would help hone the primary tenets of OLX: discovering unique giftedness, develop emerging leaders, and deploy them into their God-given calling,” said OLX Founder and CEO Peter Sullivan. “We hoped to find a university that would mirror our vision for this experience, and in doing so, we found North Greenville University to be the perfect fit as it is truly where Christ makes a difference. We resonate with Dr. Fant’s passion for developing programs where we have the honor of shaping and influencing lives providing life-changing opportunities and cultivating transformational leaders.”
Sullivan says the NGU and OLX partnership will together make a difference on this planet for Christ, equipping students who will be not be defined by what they extract, but by what they give.
“OneLifeX is the outgrowth of an audacious vision for young people who have a heart for God,” said NGU President Dr. Gene C. Fant, Jr. “We are incredibly privileged to partner with them as this entrepreneurial ministry launches this new phase of their programs and look forward to seeing how God uses this partnership for many years to come.”
OLX students will live and complete their coursework at the Marietta-based camp. Students will begin their college transcript by earning full college credit, which may be transferred to other colleges and universities according to their institutional policies for accepting credit.
“We are thrilled to be able to enter into a strategic alliance with OneLifeX to provide coursework for this unique training and development program. It will prepare groups of emerging leaders to become successful entrepreneurs and have a Kingdom impact in the marketplace through their business endeavors,” said NGU Dean of the College of Business and Entrepreneurship Dr. John Duncan.
Duncan says students will earn nine semester hours of credit in marketing, management, and entrepreneurship, and they may choose to take additional courses from NGU in an online format. At the same time, they make their way through the one-year program.
“This is another excellent opportunity for us to fulfill the mission of the College of Business & Entrepreneurship to honor God by transforming students into innovative thinkers and entrepreneurial problem-solvers who create value that leads to human flourishing in a dynamic marketplace,” Duncan said.
NGU will provide courses in Principles of Marketing, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and Management Directed Internship. NGU, consistent with requirements for regional accreditation, will be responsible for the institutional and academic oversight of all courses offered.
“At the end of the program, the participants may choose to launch the businesses that they have been working to create and work full-time, or they may choose to go back to college to complete a degree. We hope that some of the participants will choose to continue their education at NGU,” said Duncan.
To learn more about NGU’s nationally recognized academic programs, visit ngu.edu/academics.