First-year students market their products to fellow peers
By Madison Lewis
From cord detanglers to boba tea, students showcased their entrepreneurial endeavors to the student body and other prospective clients to those who came to Rider’s Business in Action Market Fair.
On March 23 at the Student Recreation Center (SRC), the atmosphere was competitive as students fought for consumer attention during the fair.
The student-developed businesses set up small tables throughout the room so that onlookers could meander about and look at each of the well-crafted displays.
The collective business in action classes worked all semester in order to promote their brands that they have been constructing.
Students only have a $500 budget to use on marketing, product design, vendors and other factors that would make their business successful and drive a profit.
They pitch their business to the public as they practice persuasive language and advertising, qualities they have practiced in order to build their brand’s reputation.
Freshman accounting major Vyshnavi Gnanaprakasam, CEO and CFO of her business venture, described the grueling process of starting her business, “Untangled,” which incorporates silicone magnetic cable ties that prevent chargers and power cords from intertwining.
“We had to pitch our ideas to our mentors and Professor Summers to get approval for our $500 budget. After getting approval, we had to figure out what third party vendor was credible and had a good product that would work for us to purchase,” Gnanaprakasam said. “While we were looking for products, I commissioned one of my friends who is a graphic designer, Raashee Mishra, [freshman graphic design major] to create our logo and various marketing products for us. After our logo and vendor were finalized we were able to start tabling as early as Feb. 22!”
Gnanaprakasam went on talking about how much money goes into marketing the business and how entrepreneurs must communicate their goals and ideas in order to achieve them.
“We slowly purchased all of our marketing products including our banner, flyers and stickers and had our completed setup within the first few days of tabling,” Gnanaprakasam said. “We held team meetings to collaborate our different ideas and discuss future goals and plans for the business.”
Freshman global supply chain management major and CFO of “Bronc Boba” Chase Tomlinson, discussed what takeaways he got from the Business in Action program and how he would implement his findings in the future.
“[I would] communicate and then delegate tasks according to people’s strengths and weaknesses,” said Tomlinson.
This event creates a foundation for students and provides real-life applications of what it may be like in the job market, encouraging more starry-eyed Broncs to take their crack at their own entrepreneurial desires.
