Semester after semester, UF students are giving back to the community and helping local businesses get on their feet.
For the past nine years, the Students in Free Enterprise has been helping local, small businesses through its Small Business Consulting program.
Groups of five or six students, led by team captains who are members of SIFE, consult with the businesses and develop marketing and business plans as well as assist them with financial work.
“It’s dependent on what the business needs,” said Josh Funderburke, assistant director of Career and Leadership Programs at UF.
The consulting program is not picky about who applies, Funderburke said. It’s open to new, established and nonprofit businesses. They apply before the semester begins and outline what they need help with in the application.
Last year, the program helped 17 businesses in Gainesville.
“The teams were able to provide a valuable service,” Funderburke said.
Groups meet with the businesses once a week and present a deliverable, or an outline of possible solutions, at the end of the semester.
Mark Fazzini, a senior finance major who is currently a co-project manager with the program, said he was a team captain last year. He said his team helped form a market plan for Indie Mundo — a music-sharing site for independent musicians.
“You don’t realize how hard it is to start up a business,” he said. “We got his business moving forward.”
Fazzini feels that working with the Small Business Consulting Program has helped prepare him for life after college by giving him hands-on experience with local businesses.
“Working as a team, that’s benefited me,” he said. “It’s been a great real-world experience.”
