Today@Sam Article

COBA Readies Exciting Innovations

July 11, 2024
SHSU Media Contact: Campbell Atkins

Sam Houston State University’s College of Business Administration’s (COBA) Center for Innovation, Technology & Entrepreneurship is introducing a student-run business program to provide Bearkats with real world business acumen and broad experience in an educational setting. The initiative falls under the center’s new ‘exCITEd’ program, which strives to build internal and external business opportunities through innovation and entrepreneurship.

“The program gives students a way to gain experience they can put on a resume,” said Pamela Zelbst, the center’s co-director. “One of the biggest barriers for young people looking for jobs is lack of experience. Being able to participate in the student-run business and learn from this opportunity gives them an advantage over their competition and is a major benefit.”

The business will be developed from the ground up as an internal store that may sell items created through the center’s advanced technology, including 3-D printing, engraving and computer numerical control devices.

“We have many technologies we can use to develop marketable products,” Zelbst said. “Operations haven’t been set up completely yet, because that is part of what we want the students to learn about.”

Assistance from the faculty is available when needed, but students will be responsible for every step in the process from naming the business and deciding how it operates to pricing and exploring licensing and trademark opportunities and barriers.

“The students will learn about opportunities and limitations of operating a business,” Zelbst said. “Everybody wants to go into business for themselves, but you cannot jump right into it. You need to explore the markets for that business.”

The opportunity will be emphasized in related classes this fall, but the center’s personnel believe it is something all SHSU students can get excited about.

“We don’t want to limit it to certain students because, if you think about it, every student at this university is going to work at a business,” Zelbst said. “They need to understand how a business operates and this is the perfect opportunity.”

The student-run business program is just one aspect of the center’s ambitious exCITEd program. Further program initiatives and details will be released in the coming months and impact the 2024-25 academic year.

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