Flagship Enterprise Center Consulting Services Showcase

Five Flagship Enterprise Center firms and Anderson University Students in Free Enterprise will celebrate their work with twenty-five students at the Flagship Enterprise Center Consulting Services Showcase on Thursday March 12, 2009 at 5:30PM. The event will be held in Reardon Auditorium where five teams of five students will present the consulting work they have performed to a panel of business and community leaders.

“This event will serve as a capstone to the marketing, accounting, and website development projects that our students have completed,” says Bethany Masters, SIFE Vice President of Entrepreneurial Impact. “This program is beneficial to the students because they are able to pair practical experience with their classroom learning.” The program has been in existence for five years and has impacted a total of twenty-four firms in the Madison County area.

Flagship clients involved in the Showcase include Community Networks, Global Student Solutions, ID Graphics, Point of Service Technologies, and SecureWebManagers. These firms were chosen to participate in the program because of their willingness to work with students and their potential for success in their business.

Community Networks is a company that provides a link between advertisers and companies looking to use digital signage for promotion. Second, Global Student Solutions works to set up a support system to serve and equip international students during their time in the United States. Point of Service Technologies offers a unique drug testing system to provide a quick, accurate, and cost effective way to determine if a patient is using illegal or prescription drugs . SecureWebManager, LLC and owner Mike Kovaleski have developed a state-of-the-art system to provide a more secure way for users to manage log-in names and passwords for the various internet services they use. Finally, screen-printing company ID Graphics will be utilizing SIFE’s consulting talents for the second year in a row.

This event is open to the public. For more information or to RSVP, contact Bethany Masters at bfmasters@anderson.edu or visit sife.anderson.edu/showcase for more information.

Do All Entrepreneurs Want to Make Money?

As VP of the Entrepreneurial Impact branch of AU's SIFE, I have met many entrepreneurs with some really unique ideas about how to make a living. Their ideas run from selling coupons to solving complex political and social issues such as drug abuse. However, one unique company that SIFE Consulting Services has worked with this year is Global Student Solutions (GSS) affiliated with the Anderson Business Incubator. Scott Martin, the president and founder of GSS seeks not primarily to make money, but to help students from abroad who plan to study in the United States for college. Scott's passion for students, mixed with his international experience, birthed the idea that he can help international students all around the country through technology to provide support for those students as they encounter a new cultural and academic experience. 

When Consulting manager Nathaniel Boggs and his team began their project with GSS in late September, Scott was just starting to make his dream a reality. With the help of the Consulting team, Scott has begun to set up an accounting system and research opportunities for funding his venture. Although helping students in Scott's first priority, SIFE students have been able to help him get the financial side of his organization in order. Our students have learned that nonprofit organizations must be financially successful so that they may be successful in fulfilling their purpose. For more information about GSS and Scott Martin, the founder, visit Global Student Solutions' website here.