Photo by: David Lorish
When speed walking across Driscoll Bridge or rushing to the next class, it seems easy to focus only on school work and having a social calendar.
For Nichole Parker and Jacob Sager the story was the same, but these two DU students managed to utilize the resources the Pioneer Leadership Program offers.
The two second-year students made it to the finals in The Bard Center for Entrepreneurship Business Plan Competition and won $3,000 this past June with one year of business school behind them. They wanted to make their mark.
“We used to walk the streets of campus looking at the signs on the lamp posts. We thought, ‘Hey we want to be up there someday. That could be us,'” said Parker.
The business plan the two students formed is a hybrid non-profit which attempts to stimulate the economy in Tanzania and was inspired by Sager’s high school mission trips.
It is innovative in the fact that it donates 70 percent of the profits back to a school in Tanzania to sponsor students. When the sponsored students graduate and form businesses Global CafeNation will then buy those products and sell them in the United States.
The business plan the two students formed is a non-profit which attempts to stimulate the economy in Tanzania was inspired by Sager’s previous mission trips. The idea was born to start a nonprofit together was formulated on a bus ride to a leadership conference last year. After weeks of meetings and discussing possible plans the two separated from the group to pursue the plan.
“The others in the group didn’t think the timing was realistic, so I went to Nichole a week before the plan was due and said, ‘I’m going to do this, do you want to help?'” Sager said.
The two formulated the executive summary which elevated them from the 76 other plans into the top 20 with help from their mentor Craig Harrison, member of the PLP advisory board and recipient of the Ammi Hyde Award for outstanding achievement as DU alumni.
“We then made a business plan with the help of a book called Business Plan in a Day. We printed it and got it bound, I remember it was mother’s day weekend, I went home but I spent all of mothers day working on the plan,” Parker said about the days before the competition.
The two then became the youngest to ever make it to the finals. They placed in the fourth to sixth place range, winning best international and best nonprofit plan.
The community compelled and inspired them to make use of all DU’s untalked of resources. They learned that DU has the resources students need to be successful, but that sometimes students just need to dig a little.
“Don’t be afraid to ask for help. DU has an incredible amount of resources, ask professors, ask faculty. If you want something and want information you can find it. Even if you are talking about an idea a professor will help. Don’t be shy, don’t be afraid,” Sager said.
Parker added, “Go for it. Don’t be worried about rejection, we lost a lot of sleep but we did fine in class. Use the skills you learn in your classes, it makes education so much more worthwhile.”
Currently the two are learning to balance their busy schedules with launching their nonprofit Global CafeNation. They are now seeking graduate students in marketing and financing to join their project.
“It takes a lot longer to accomplish things applying what you just learned in class to real life, we’re looking for people to help us along the learning process,” Sager said.
