New NJIT Course Puts Students in Charge of Planning a Business
Students in a new NJIT course that delivers the experience of planning a business on campus appreciate the latitude that instructors give them to make decisions.
“They guide you and respond to specific questions, but they won’t tell you exactly what to do and how,” said Marina Arrese ’21, a business major who’s part of a team in charge of finance and information systems for the class project. “They give you certain time, budget and operational constraints, but apart from that, you are free to—together with your team—make your own decisions and choose your own tools and methods.”
Added Charis Hwang ’22, another business major on the team: “We had to step back, view the big-picture objectives and develop our own structure and road map for achieving them while collaborating with other departments. This was something I really struggled with at the beginning of the semester, but I appreciate the ambiguity now as it requires me to have a more thorough understanding of the project as a whole.”
The course, in which students from NJIT’s Martin Tuchman School of Management, Hillier College of Architecture and Design and Newark College of Engineering are developing a business plan for coffee shop that could be created in a shipping container, exemplifies the type of hands-on experiences that students crave, namely those where they can apply classroom lessons in real-world scenarios. Indeed, demand for the opportunity far outstripped capacity: 52 students vied for 19 openings, with the most enthusiastic and qualified individuals making the cut.
Tips, questions and guidance
Participants describe the experience as challenging but rewarding with communication being essential and instructors functioning like mentors. Leading the class is Steve Rubin, the former president and CEO of ITS ConGlobal and a member of the MTSM Board of Advisors, with support from David Brothers, the coordinator of interior design and a senior university lecturer at HCAD, and MTSM Senior University Lecturer Melodi Guilbault, as students work in smaller groups that focus on design, operations, human resources/legal issues, finance/IT and commerce.
This course truly makes me feel like I'm working for a client with other staff members on my team.
“The professors are very skilled in what they do and they incorporate what would happen in the real world,” said Anh Ly ’21, an interior design major. “Professor Rubin gives us tips and asks us questions based on what a client might ask. Professor Brothers treats us like real designers by teaching us and marking how we should be doing our drawings and renders. Professor Guilbault is always there when we need help with finance-related problems and guides us in the direction we need to go. This course truly makes me feel like I'm working for a client with other staff members on my team.”
In the process, Ly has honed her verbal skills, as has Hwang, who has become “very intentional in the way I communicate.” Another interior design major, Ru’a Elmosallamy ’21, now understands the municipal requirements of getting a business off the ground.
“I have learned about the building codes that we are required to abide by and keep in mind when designing a coffee shop. Since I was heavily involved in the site planning of the project, I now have a better understanding of what is required in terms of permits and the process of obtaining them,” Elmosallamy explained.
Working toward goals
Each week the class connects online—as is the norm in the business world during a pandemic—to share progress and get feedback from the instructors. Students use charts, spreadsheets and graphics to illustrate what their specialty groups are doing and why they’re doing it. In one session, business major Pedro D’Avila ’22, displayed the results of a survey on the types of foods that students would like at the shop, proposed to be named the Coffee Container. Brothers, however, suggested going further to consider items not offered elsewhere on campus, such as healthful muffins.
The multidisciplinary course also features field trips, such as when students traveled to Woodbridge, N.J. with MTSM Dean Oya Tukel to view shipping containers at Integrated Industries Corp., and guest speakers like Andrew Christ, vice president for real estate development and capital operations at NJIT, and John Procaccini, a partner at the Gretalia Hospitality Group in Princeton, N.J.
Students in the course have gained invaluable personal confidence that will help them achieve long-term goals—be it becoming an imagineer at The Walt Disney Co., a LEED-certified green associate and real estate interior designer, a business consultant or yes, an entrepreneur. Arrese aims to do just that, after working in finance or consulting at a large, established company. And now she knows exactly what it takes.
“My actual aspiration is to open my own business and be an entrepreneur. It is what I truly believe that I’m cut out for,” she said. “Hopefully, five years from now I will have found what I am best at and a sector that I truly like and I will have started up on my own.”
