UTPB set to launch a new program to help young entrepreneurs

ODESSA, Texas (KOSA) -On Friday a new program called Student-Made is set to launch on UTPB

Student-Made’s mission is to partner with colleges and universities to provide an effective and entirely student-run platform for entrepreneurial students.

Student-Made incorporates support systems for everything needed to run a business including marketing, shipping, planning events, partnerships, content, collaborations, promotion, finances & strategy.

Being a college student can be a difficult thing, dealing with homework, studying, test, and finals it sometimes feels like you never have time to just relax

The same can go for owning a business with making sure your product is being promoted, being shipped, and dealing with the finances, it can be an overwhelming experience.

Not many people can do both at the same time.

That’s why Student-Made was created back in 2007, to give guidance and help relieve the stress of being a college student and a young entrepreneur.

“And so, this is meant to be an entryway into learning what that’s like, learning how to turn a hobby or passion into a business in a low stake environment,” said Lindsay Reeth, Co-Founder of Student Made

With the launch of student-Sade at UTPB on Friday, Student-Made will be at 10 college campuses across the country including schools like Clemson, Marquette, UNC of Chapel hill, and others spanning 6 U.S. states.

But UTPB is the first Texas school to get this opportunity.

“I think everyone has been excited. It allows us to engage with our community and get an option to sell our work” said Karli St Louis, Senior at UTPB

Student-Made wants to make sure that dreams can become a reality for young students

“Pretty much nonexistent before honestly, I’ve never tried to go that route or anything, I never had the opportunity, it was never presented to me and if it was like an idea in my head, it just seemed like a complicated thing trying to go through different websites and stuff,” said St Louis

Student-Made is designed so that all that work is in one place and students get the opportunity to put it up and have someone help them distribute it and advertise it.

The other aspect that can be foreign for students to run their own business is dealing with the financial aspect.

Student-Made helps with that and handles all the payment processing that goes through the website.

“We are reliable for the sales taxes and reporting our sales. However, the creators get an education in kind of the back end for finance and accounting that goes into running a business while they don’t have to manage that themselves” said Ryan McElhinney, Co-Founder of Student Made

Student-Made is also releasing a new aspect to their program for alumni so that once students graduate, they can still use the resources Student-Made offers.

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