USD School of Business partnered with The Brink SBDC to offer students an opportunity to work with local San Diego small businesses

“Students are so fun to work with. They are creative, thoughtful, and fun,” states Karen Brunett, CEO and founder of Qookit, an app that streamlines the meal planning and cooking process using artificial intelligence.

In Spring 2021, University of San Diego School of Business undergraduate students engaged virtually in a marketing research project with a few San Diego small businesses as part of their Marketing Research class.

Small Business Development Centers

These companies are clients of The Brink Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at the University of San Diego and part of the San Diego & Imperial SBDC Network. The Brink SBDC serves innovative San Diego start-up technology and life sciences companies by offering world-class consulting and business training, to improve and guide companies towards success and growth.

“Small business development centers are often hosted at institutions of higher learning; what a great opportunity that provides to connect real-life business challenges with student hands-on learning — it’s the ultimate “win-win” and a lot of value is created in the exchange,” says Rachel Lozano Castro, director of USD’s Brink SBDC.

Finding Ideal Marketing Research Clients

Dr. Aarti Ivanic is an associate professor of marketing at USD and professor of the Marketing Research class. Dr. Ivanic states, “The Brink SBDC made it easy and convenient to find clients for my marketing research projects. Through a joint selection process, the Brink SBDC team helped minimize any risk that could arise from client-based projects and also select clients who had the most need and could stand to benefit the most from the help.”

Each team of students was paired with a company to work with for about two months. With Dr. Ivanic’s guidance, the students applied concepts such as research methodology to collect data, and problem formulation to guide their research. After conducting their research, students analyzed the data, and presented creative and viable data-driven solutions the company could implement.

SBDC Entrepreneurs and Students Get a Win-Win

“The students gave fresh new insight into our marketing efforts. Their research allowed us to target additional demographics for our customer research,” explained Malte Niebelschuetz, CEO and founder of Shore Buddies, the world’s first stuffed animal made from 100% recycled plastic.

Working with real-world companies such as start-ups and minority-owned businesses gave students employer-ready skills including leadership, collaboration, and an inside look into entrepreneurship.

For USD business student, Maddy Booth, “This experience gave me a new perspective on how hard running a business as an entrepreneur in the early stages truly is.” Booth worked with OliveUs, a functional and fashion-forward medical apparel line.

As the facilitator for this project, Dr. Ivanic reflects on the experience as being ”very valuable for the students because they could apply the theory learned in class to a practical problem. This helps prepare them for the real world and for when they get jobs.”

“The experience has been positive. I am grateful to have this resource,” expresses Brunett.

The USD School of Business and The Brink SBDC intend to continue to work together and incorporate experiential learning into the business curriculum.

Niebelshuetz is proud to have been able to “work with a passionate group of students that are excited to bring their classroom learning to the real business world.”