MSU students raise funds for local nonprofits through entrepreneurial challenge
by Anne Cantrell, MSU News Service
Teams of Montana State University business students turned $50 each into more than $1,900 in just three weeks, and the students then donated those funds to three local nonprofit organizations this fall.
The students were participating in Venture Time, part of an upper-division class on entrepreneurship offered by the MSU Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship. As part of the course – taught by instructor Brandt Williams and Trevor Huffmaster, director of the Blackstone LaunchPad at MSU – interdisciplinary student teams were given $25 in startup capital, with the option to add in $25 of their own funds, to launch real businesses that were as profitable and impactful as possible. All proceeds after paying back their investors then went to local charities of the students’ choice.
Twelve student teams raised funds through a variety of creative ventures. One team, EcoBox, took used pallets and created indoor and outdoor planters, embracing the idea of taking a waste stream and repurposing it into a useful product. A student from MSU’s sustainable food and bioenergy systems program joined the business students on the team.
A senior in the Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship at Montana State University showcases her face mask chain, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020, on campus, as part of a senior venture project, Venture Time. The project is part of an upper-division class on entrepreneurship offered by the MSU Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship. MSU Photo by Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez
Another team, Cats Against COVID, created COVID-19 awareness stickers. The team partnered with MSU’s University Printing Services and leveraged word-of-mouth advertising to create and launch the MSU co-branded item. In addition to business students, students from the College of Arts and Architecture were on the team.
A third team of business students made and sold stylish chain face mask holders to keep masks in place, similar to something used for sunglasses or reading glasses, while a fourth team of business students offered and marketed socially distanced photography sessions.
Students donated their proceeds – $1,944 total – to Eagle Mount, Heart of the Valley and the Bridger Foothills Fire Relief Fund through the Greater Gallatin United Way.
Williams said he was proud of the students for their efforts and results.
“It is always rewarding to see students find their creativity, use their energy and work together to build something that’s fun, interesting and makes a positive impact,” Williams said.
Williams noted that Venture Time provided students with a number of learning opportunities.
“The learning outcomes come from rapid ideation, testing the ideas and succeeding or failing fast,” he said. “Assumptions are proven and disproven and the holes in the process are uncovered very quickly. We want to accomplish a couple of things – uncover hidden biases and assumptions, realization that not all ideas are worthy of businesses and accomplishments come in many forms not just monetary success.”
He added that there are a number of benefits to the project.
“Community engagement is rich in quick projects like this,” Williams said. “The students interact with a variety of participants. (They) learn a lot about the audience, demographic and tolerance of their community by the ideas and products they serve.”
Perhaps most important is the hands-on experience Venture Time provides for students, Williams said.
“The biggest success comes from a deeper understanding that ideas can be incubated, tested, adjusted and relaunched in rapid fire with little capital,” Williams said.
Venture Time was previously known as the Entreprentice Challenge, which launched at MSU in 2011. Since then, MSU students collectively have raised nearly $40,000, which has been distributed among 21 nonprofits.
Students who are interested in entrepreneurial projects like Venture Time are encouraged to consider MSU’s new master’s program in innovation and management, said Mark Ranalli, dean of the Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship.
“We are excited to now offer a graduate program that will, among other things, expand upon the skills and engagement found in the Venture Time project,” Ranalli said. “We want to take the passion and creativity from the undergraduate level and elevate it, because innovation and entrepreneurship both are critical across most professional fields.”
The MSU Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship offers four undergraduate options of study – accounting, finance, management and marketing – as well as five minors – accounting, business administration, entrepreneurship and small business management, finance, and international business. It also offers a master of professional accountancy degree, a master of science in innovation and management, a business certificate and entrepreneurship certificate. This fall, the college reported an enrollment of 1,569 students. •
