Founded in 2018, Belmont’s Thomas W. Beasley Center for Free Enterprise is a learning center committed to exploring and providing education and programming about the impact of free enterprise in American Society.
The Center aspires to become a global thought leader in free enterprise education and scholarship with a strong emphasis on student and community engagement seeking to cultivate flourishing communities through the power of free enterprise.
Our steadfast defense of the free enterprise system is founded on the following beliefs:
- Competition and free markets, secured by private property, powered by innovation and entrepreneurship, supported by measured government intervention, regulation and taxation that results in economic and financial freedom.
- Better life and opportunities for all through an economic system that offers the promise of prosperity, both individually and collectively.
- Individual and social responsibility that show the benefits of private ownership and for-profit business, and that demonstrate how management can achieve increased levels of profitability while simultaneously enhancing contribution to the environment, social and governance practices.
- Character with purpose, including Belmont’s focus on equipping students to fulfill their Christian calling of creating abundant lives for themselves and others.
- Economic freedom and human flourishing that create a mindset and ecosystem of abundance while servicing others in beneficial ways.
Key Offerings
Free Enterprise Forum
The Free Enterprise Forum brings together accomplished entrepreneurs, investors, executives, and scholars to explore how freer markets drive innovation, growth, and opportunity. The Forum offers practical insight into principled leadership, disciplined capital allocation, and thoughtful risk-taking that support resilient organizations and long-term value creation, while advancing economic freedom in service of human flourishing.
Fellows
The Fellows Program advances free enterprise education by supporting faculty in teaching, research, and curriculum development in business. Through this initiative, faculty are recognized as Beasley Research Fellows or Beasley Teaching Fellows, receiving awards to pursue innovative projects that foster thought leadership and enhance the integration of free enterprise principles into academic programs.
Small Business Advocacy
Celebrates and champions the small business leaders who power our economy through innovation, resilience and local impact, while amplifying their voices and advancing the principles of free enterprise. Watch the Small Business Appreciation Week Recap.
Free Enterprise Research Guide
The Free Enterprise Research Guide offers a curated gateway to the ethical, legal, and economic foundations of a free and responsible society. Drawing on primary sources, quantitative data, and leading scholarship, the Guide equips readers to explore the institutional infrastructure of liberty and the ideas that shape markets, policy, and human flourishing in the practice of free enterprise.
The Beasley Collection: Vocations in Free Enterprise
The Collection features biographies of business leaders who view enterprise as a calling to serve others and contribute to the common good. The collection highlights how faith, moral conviction, and enterprise leadership are applied in building firms that create value, foster dignity in work, and promote human flourishing.
Market-Based Business Projects
Students and faculty engage in applied, market-oriented projects. Through structured analysis and collaborative engagement, participants support entrepreneurs and enterprises in strengthening strategy, improving financial decision-making, and pursuing growth in sales, profitability, and employment while supporting pathways to prosperity.
Tennessee Export Initiative
The Tennessee Export Initiative administers a State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) grant to assist small businesses in entering and expanding into international markets. This grant program is also funded in part by the Small Business Administration and through the efforts of the Tennessee District Export Council.
Nashville Oral Business History
The Nashville Oral Business History Project preserves the stories of the visionaries who built Nashville’s most influential companies - capturing over 150 interviews that reveal the city’s biggest deals, boldest decisions and toughest challenges. Through firsthand accounts of innovation, resilience and entrepreneurial spirit, we celebrate the power of free enterprise and inspire future generations.
Professional Development
This program supports students and faculty in exploring the practice and value of free enterprise while building meaningful professional networks. Our funding enables participation in conferences, workshops, and seminars that connect the university with business, policy, and academic leaders, strengthening market-oriented thinking and real-world engagement.
Free Enterprise Thought Leadership
This initiative advances scholarship and dialogue on economic freedom and free enterprise through the launch of The Journal of Economic Freedom and Free Enterprise and the sponsorship of scholarly presentations at leading academic conferences.
Financial Stewardship
Belmont students can start planning for their financial futures with iGrad – an award-winning financial literacy tool. iGrad makes college debt manageable and takes the fear out of finances through personalized financial wellness resources. Click the button below to learn more.
Financial Wellness through iGrad
Contact Us
Jack C. Massey College of Business
1900 Belmont Boulevard
Nashville, TN 37212
Email: ginger.cork@belmont.edu
Phone: (615) 460-6175
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