Students launch businesses in Xavier program

When recent Xavier University graduate Joe McGrath's parents walked into the Senior Family Brunch in the Hoff Dining Commons on Friday, a surprise awaited them. Little did they know that the lettuce, spinach and onions that graduating seniors and their families planned to eat were grown by a business their son co-founded.

"This week we made our first sell to the cafeteria. I haven't told my parents yet," McGrath said on Tuesday. "I'm going to surprise them when we get to the cafeteria."

The scene wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for a new student-run business program in Xavier University's Williams College of Business called D'Artagnan Enterprises.

The program, which had been in its formation stages for a year, is the first of its kind by a college in the Cincinnati region. It takes its name from XU's symbolic leader.

It's already proven to be successful – five student-run businesses launched in the last year, funded by $100,000 in startup money from Xavier supporters. Brian Till, dean of the Williams College of Business, said the donors wanted to keep their identities private.

"In a word, it's thrilling," said Owen Raisch, director of the program. "It's shown that when students are given the permission to express their creativity, great things can happen. They're getting started on that journey. I don't think they'll turn back."

The students emphasize that the businesses are not just projects. They are true start-ups with employees, fees, wages, operating budgets and clients.

They include:

•Aramis Consulting, a consulting firm for independently-owned or small businesses that provides handouts and PowerPoint programs for presentations, management of social media, advertising campaigns, and accounting and financial analysis for a lower cost than most other business consulting firms.

•Blue Blob Cleaners, a student-run janitorial service that provides cleaning services to all campus student dorms and the University Station Apartments. Soon, it will be expanding services to provide laundry and dry cleaning.

•Campus Solutions, a low-cost summer storage and packing service for students' belongings while they are on summer vacation.

•Xavier Urban Farm, an organic farm that provides fresh produce to the Xavier cafeteria. Soon, it hopes to sell produce to local restaurants and at farmers' markets.

•Faves Eatery: An already-functioning catering service and a campus eatery opening in August that provides smoothies, crepes, panninis and salads. The business strives to change the way students approach nutrition and healthy eating.

The idea for the student-run business program came from Till, who was a visiting professor at Loyola University Chicago in 2010 and 2011. He learned of Loyola's student-run business program and decided he wanted to emulate it at Xavier.

"The students (at Loyola) described it as one of the best experiences of their four years," said Till, who will be leaving later this summer to lead Marquette University's business school.

In May 2014, Till and Raisch started to develop a structure for the program, placing a great emphasis on experiential learning. They put a call out to students encouraging them to come to a meeting to discuss the concept.

Around 30 students came to the meeting, and many of them decided they wanted to take part in the program, forming small groups and developing business ideas over the summer.

By November, two businesses were already bringing in revenue.

"My role was to be very supportive, to bring some lessons learned that I picked up on from my time at Loyola," Till said. "The credit goes to the students and the level of effort and enthusiasm they put into it."

'That's how it works ... You work 100 hour weeks'

Students agree. It was a lot of hard work.

Consider the business plan for Aramis Consulting, for example.

Aramis predicted its capital costs would be around $10,000, of which $7,000 would go toward purchasing equipment and the other $3,000 going toward payments for graphic designers, contractors, social media and promotional videos.

After the initial costs, Aramis planned to be self-sustaining. If the company had three clients a month, they expected to generate an average monthly revenue of around $30,000. That allows for a 35 percent profit after compensation for labor and other expenses.

That's a conservative prediction, though. If the company had six clients, they would generate around $55,000 a month, or $825,000 a year.

"That's how it works with start-ups," said Andrew DeCilles, founder of Aramis Consulting and the CEO of D'Artagnan Enterprises. "You work 100 hour weeks. What happened here at Xavier was no exception. No one treated this like a course project. Everyone was starting their own business."

Brooke Mills, administrative coordinator at Aramis Consulting, said it's hard to track how many hours she worked because the work never stopped.

"Just because we're not in (the business center), doesn't mean we're not on our email talking to clients," she said. "It doesn't mean we're not in the classroom thinking about stuff or writing up stuff when we're supposed to be taking notes."

Through that hard work, the businesses began to take shape. And then one day it hit. This isn't just a dream anymore.

"For me, I think there's been several moments of that catharsis where we said, 'We're here. We made it,' " said Peter Reuss, co-founder of Blue Blob Cleaners, talking about when the business was approved, when it received funding and when employees did their first cleaning.

Students say they already see benefits of program

McGrath and DeCilles, who graduated on Saturday, already have jobs lined up, a feat they credit to the Xavier program. McGrath has accepted a job in the executive development program for store management at Macy's, and DeCilles has accepted a job as an account executive at a website support developer called AI Software, Inc.

"When I went and interviewed with (Macy's), something I spoke to a lot was my work with the farm," McGrath said. "They were asking me questions about my resume, and one of the first big questions was 'You're the co-founder and operations manager of the farm? What is that?'

"Words can't cover it," McGrath added. "We've all been part of something bigger than we expected."

The program will continue to grow, Raisch and Till believe. Next year, the emphasis will be on improving the current business models, helping new students become leaders, and possibly forming two new businesses.

The students have a similar vision.

"I hope I come back to Xavier for my 25 year reunion and D'Artagnan Enterprises is still going strong," DeCilles said. "I can say to my wife, or let's say I'm taking my kid on a college visit here. I can say, 'Hey, I started that.' "