The University of New Hampshire Business Starters is holding its second seminar of the semester tonight at 7 p.m. in MUB Theater II.
The seminar will feature guest speaker Andrew Keller, owner of Dover’s Simply Green Biofuels and Congreenience Store, the first full service fueling station in N.H. to feature real alternative fuels. It will focus on strategies to make a business idea develop into an actual business.
According to the group’s creator, UNH sophomore Davis Demers, this seminar is just one part of the work Business Starters does to foster entrepreneurship on campus and help students start their own businesses.
“This group is a source for people who want to do something entrepreneurial, but don’t know exactly what to do,” Demers said.
Demers also said that many of Business Starters’ current members are not business majors, and that he and the other leaders of the group work hard to deliver information on starting a business at a level that anyone, regardless of their major, can understand.
“At meetings, we give students tips on starting their own businesses,” Demers said. “We also encourage networking between students… we may have strengths on our own, but we’re so much stronger together than we are apart.”
Public Relations officer Colby Delisle, a freshman Business Administration major, said it is the type of information the organization is able to give students that makes the group a good resource.
“We provide tidbits of information from professionals that you would never get in a business class,” Delisle said.
Delisle, who started a Pretzel Time this summer before selling it to a family friend, said that his personal experience with starting a business helps him to help others who want to start one.
“I want to come in with my business experience and educate and network with others,” he said. “A lot of kids have the interest but don’t quite know what to do…I hope to share my knowledge to help my peers but also learn a lot, too.”
Demers said that while he has less hands-on experience in starting a business than Delisle, he hopes his love of entrepreneurship will allow him to help other students.
“I love business,” Demers said. “Even as a little kid I would always have lemonade stands- it’s an itch that you have. We all want the office with the window and the comfy chair, but if you start your own business you’re already at the top.”
Both Demers and Delisle said it was through watching the lifestyles of their fathers, who are both entrepreneurs, that they were influenced to want to do the same.
“There are risks involved [with starting a business], but there is also the freedom to do whatever you want and to make your own decisions,” Demers said. “That’s sounds like a good life to me.”
“My dad owns his own real estate business,” Delisle said. “He trained me from the day I could walk to be an entrepreneur, and to look at the world with a business perspective.”
Still, while Demers and Delisle believe they can help to better educate students about starting a business, they say seminars like tonight’s are important for fostering relationships between students and local businessmen.
“When we bring in guest speakers we encourage them to hang out and talk to the people [in attendance] after their presentation,” Demers said. “I think there’s a big disconnect between NH students and NH businesses, and we want to start a relationship between the two.”
Demers said that students benefit from the seminars because they are able to learn from the experiences and mistakes of successful entrepreneurs, and the business owners benefit from the seminars because there are able to meet students who want to have a future in business.
Demers also said that Business Starters has many hopes for the future, including working with local businesses to provide internships for students.
Demers also said that the Business Starters is a great resource for students already, as there is no entrance fee and students are not required to attend every meeting or seminar.
“You can show up for a few weeks and then leave,” Demers said. “As long as you learn what you want to learn that’s what we care about.”
