CSUF entrepreneurship students once again finished in first place at the annual Small Business Institute (SBI) Project of the Year competition in March. This marks the 15th first-place win for a CSUF team in just over three decades. In this competition, students from universities across the country are judged on the business consulting efforts they provide to real companies in their communities.
A team of CSUF undergrads took the top spot, while a graduate student team took second place in their respective category. With a total of 39 wins over the years, CSUF is the winningest university in SBI history.
The Titan students were affiliated with the Center for Entrepreneurship’s Student Consulting Program, which provides guidance from faculty and real-world professional advisors and connects student consultants to Southern California small businesses. This exposes students to the challenges of the contemporary business world, while giving industry partners the insights of a new generation of professionals.
An Art Gallery and Professional Coaching Business Gain from Titan Expertise
The 2022 undergraduate team consulted for Nanyi Art Frame, a Laguna Hills picture frame shop founded by Zaiyi “Jet” Wang, a CSUF Startup Incubator alumnus. Forced to pivot from a traditional art gallery due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the startup moved to commercial and residential art installations.
A team of four undergrads – Caitlyne Nguyen, Perla Olivares, Alyssa Rodriquez and Alyssa Sigala – worked with team mentor Amy Ye and Lecturer Tom Miller to document and report on the client’s needs and best practices for the future.
They helped Wang develop the accounting, legal and tax compliance aspects of his business, making his model sustainable for the future.
The graduate team, led by former Center for Entrepreneurship staff member Travis Lindsay, consulted for Andrea Bahamondes-Rosales and her co-founder/husband, Francisco Rosales, of Bloom Coaching Services.
“Starting a business is one of the most difficult things a professional can do, and the students on my team were tasked with helping the client figure out how she should launch,” says Lindsay.
“The client already had a successful life-coaching practice and wanted to have a better understanding of the technological space that she wanted to enter and how she could effectively communicate her life-coaching lessons through that medium.”
Five MBA students – Erin Doherty, Sarah Eichmann, Jonny Elliott, Anna Ficek-Madej and Neil Kessler – comprised the graduate team.
Applying Titan Student Talent to the Business World
Whether at the undergrad or graduate levels, CSUF student consultants start learning about their potential clients in class. Then, they form teams and pick the client that they would most like to work with.
After the teams are formed, they meet with their clients to learn more about the company and their goals for their project.
Over the course of the semester, the students meet with each other and their client multiple times, seeking to develop a comprehensive strategic plan that the client can use to achieve their goals. By the end of the semester, the teams have developed a written plan and presented that plan in person to the client.
For More Information
For more information about how your company can benefit from an intensive semester-long project, please contact CSUF Consulting Entrepreneur-in-Residence Charlesetta Medina at [email protected] or 657-278-8243.
Cal State Fullerton offers both undergraduate and graduate coursework and degree programs in entrepreneurship. For more on the university’s entrepreneurship programs and alumni, read our CSUF Business News articles on entrepreneurship.
