School of Business’ Social Enterprise Conference Attracting Leading Scholars, Entrepreneurs and Business Owners
“We don’t hire people to bake brownies, we bake brownies to hire people,” boasts the website of Greyston Bakery of Yonkers, N.Y.
Recognized as one of the best social enterprise companies in the world, Greyston Bakery’s mission is to provide individuals with employment, skills and resources to lift them out of poverty.Continue Reading
School of Business Offers New Summer Program for Non-Business Majors
Due to unprecedented demand, the School of Business is offering a new, 10-credit summer business program for undergraduate, non-business majors who want to gain valuable business acumen and expand their marketability.
The UConn Business Fundamentals Certificate Program is a seven-week program that includes the following courses: “Legal and Ethical Environment of Business,” “Managerial and Interpersonal Behavior,” “Workplace Readiness,” and “Business Information Systems.” The program runs from May 18 to July 2.Continue Reading
Marketing Alumni Event Makes an Impact on Students
On March 25, UConn marketing faculty, alumni, students, and professionals gathered in the Benton Art Museum for the annual Marketing Student and Alumni Networking Event to exchange ideas, experiences, and advice. Surrounded by a Husky Basketball exhibit, “In the Paint: Basketball in Contemporary Art,” delicious food, and good company, all attendees enjoyed conversation about careers, school, and the terrible spring weather. This event strengthens relationships between all involved, and provides students the opportunity to build relationships at UConn and beyond.
Keynote speaker Stewart Lander, class of 1980, challenged the group with the line: “If you skipped class, took off work, or stayed out instead of going home, would you be missed?” In essence, what sets you apart from others? Stewart stressed the importance of finding your passion, building quality and lasting relationships, pursuing lifelong learning, and providing service to those around you.
Lander, who earned his master’s degree from UConn, has more than 30 years of experience in selling and leading large sales teams in the financial services industry. Named the 2013-2014 Outstanding Alumnus by the Marketing Department, his involvement in the school and community reflects the foundation of his speech. His words resonated with both professionals and faculty, who have experienced the truth of his words, and with the students, who look to follow the framework as they enter new careers.
About the event, Lander noted that, “the networking events give me a chance to interact with students and hear their enthusiasm regarding their vision for their futures. Alumni have much to offer these students, and want to assist students, just as they were helped when they were students.”
Senior marketing student Paige Gregory agrees: “Networking is incredibly valuable, but it can also be somewhat stressful. Networking with UConn alum, however, takes off some of the additional pressure. These are people who have, quite literally, walked in our shoes and are eager to help in whatever way they can.”
More than 100 UConn business students were inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma scholastic honor society during a dinner and ceremony on Sunday evening.
Beta Gamma Sigma recognizes students with the highest academic achievement at the undergraduate, masters and doctoral levels. Students from Storrs, Stamford, Hartford and Waterbury attended the ceremony in the Dave Ivry Seminar Classroom at School of Business. Keynote speaker was Dean John A. Elliott.Continue Reading
UConn undergraduates are invited to sign up for the April 4th TechnoEDGE workshop. TechnoEDGE workshops are designed to provide students with technology training that focuses on reviewing, analyzing and formatting data for use in the business environment. A major component of the training is hands-on assignments, group projects and a capstone assignment, each designed to provide practical experience.
UConn School of Business
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Room 122 – Storrs campus
8:00am—3:30pm
Breakfast and Lunch is provided
Register on HuskyCareerLink under “Workshops”
TechnoEDGE is offered as a part of Travelers EDGE Professional Development Institute (PDI), a career readiness training program offered in partnership with Travelers Insurance.
Since the MS in Financial Risk Management is offered on the Hartford and Stamford campuses, we’ve been taking an annual trip to visit the University’s main campus in Storrs as a group. We start by following the Lodewick Visitor Center student staff to explore the School of Business, then walking across the street for a tour of Gampel Pavilion—home of champions. The visit includes Continue Reading
The School of Business and its faculty are key organizers of a new Entrepreneurship and Innovation Consortium on campus.
The consortium is designed to provide a coherent vision of UConn’s extensive entrepreneurial effort, as well as inspire, support, advise and encourage inventive and creative business ventures, simplify the start-up and grant-seek process, and introduce potential business partners.
“The School of Business is extraordinarily happy to be involved in the leadership of this effort for several reasons,” said Professor Timothy Folta, co-director of the consortium. “First of all, it will make an enormous impact on the university. Second, in today’s environment, entrepreneurship and innovation are critical for nearly every university stakeholder, so it makes sense to develop a coherent effort in this realm. Finally, the School of Business feels it has a great deal to contribute, because we offer programs and courses on entrepreneurship and have renowned scholars in this area.”
The consortium’s members come from across the university, representing diverse organizations that foster entrepreneurship and innovation. It is being led by the School of Business, School of Engineering, Office of the Provost, and Office of the Vice President for Research. The consortium was launched this Fall and will have its first Steering Committee meeting Jan. 28, 2015.
“The feedback we have received is phenomenal—it seems every organization wants to be part of the consortium,” said Folta, who serves as the consortium’s co-director with Hadi Bozorgmanesh, professor-in-residence in the School of Engineering.
The consortium will not be implementing programs, but will be a conduit for program leaders to share information and close the gaps on campus that inventors and business start-ups frequently encounter.
“We’ve found that people don’t know where to go to get information, and that’s something we can centralize, beginning with our web site,” Folta said. The newly created web site, entrepreneurship.uconn.edu, shares links to member organizations, stories of successful UConn-associated start-ups, grant application information, helpful business course links, and resources, both on- and off- campus, for people interested in starting businesses.
In addition to serving the immediate UConn community, Folta said he believes it will appeal to stakeholders beyond the university, including federal and state granting agencies that want more information about what innovation is occurring through the university.
Folta, who holds the School of Business’ Thomas John and Bette Wolff Chair in Strategic Entrepreneurship, said the participants will benefit from discussing ideas and sharing initiative and enthusiasm.
“We don’t want duplication of efforts,” he said. “We feel by improving connectivity, we will help coordinate new and exciting endeavors.”
What will it mean in the future?
“We hope that our member programs will develop new businesses and our educational programs will lead to a new generation of inventors of tomorrow,” Folta said. “We hope to increase the collaboration on campus, decrease duplication, promote a better statewide awareness of what we’re accomplishing at UConn and, ultimately, increase economic development.”
This article first appeared in the UConn Business magazine, Volume 4, Issue 1 (Winter 2014)
If UConn alumni Dennis ’04 and William Bok ’08 (CLAS) had listened to popular opinion, they never would have launched their now wildly successful FroyoWorld franchise.
‘”There are other people who are smarter than you… why haven’t they started a self-serve frozen yogurt lounge?”‘ Dennis recalls someone saying. Others simply said, “Good luck,” with a sarcastic laugh.
“But three years later, after countless hours of hard work, we have more than 40 locations, and 30 more planned stores, including our first official international store opening in Australia,” Dennis Bok said. “Hopefully that puts the nay-sayers to rest!”
“When we started, we had a vision—and the vision was not opening a couple stores in and around Connecticut. We are FroyoWorld, with a little emphasis on the world,” he said with a chuckle. “Hopefully soon we’ll be an internationally-recognized brand. Time will tell.”
A first-generation American, whose parents moved to this country from Korea, Dennis said he always imagined himself as an entrepreneur. He was, in fact, so eager to prove himself that he didn’t want to go to college at all.
But his parents, who operated a dry-cleaning business in Branford and had an impeccable work ethic, were “sticklers for education.”
“After being ‘forced’ to go to college, I realized obtaining a higher education is the building block for one’s success,” he said. “With a strong base of knowledge from higher education institutions, such as UConn, mixed with some analytical reasoning abilities, your options are endless in this huge global market.”
William initially started a self-serve frozen yogurt lounge in San Francisco with his wife’s cousin. A few years later he sold the business and returned to Connecticut. By then both he and Dennis recognized the potential success of a frozen yogurt business on the East Coast and “jumped on it.”
The first FroyoWorld opened in New Haven in August 2010, with the brothers and William’s wife as partners. Today most of FroyoWorld’s stores are located in New York or New England, with another six in Puerto Rico and one in Australia. Each store employs about 15 people.
Perhaps Bok’s favorite store is the one located in Storrs Center, adjacent to UConn. FroyoWorld is one of 29 businesses in the center, which includes a mix of restaurants, shops, offices and homes.
“We believed in UConn and the Leyland Alliance’s vision of a downtown Storrs so much that we signed the lease and paid a deposit almost two years prior to opening our doors at Storrs Center in 2012,’’ Bok said. “It was a coming-home to UConn. To say the least, we loved the location.’’
And at that store, as with others, business is brisk.
“I think the popularity of our business is that it is a nice place to visit,” Dennis said. “People come in with a smile, and they leave with one. The yogurt is delicious and it is a healthy sweet alternative because of its probiotics.”
In the beginning, Bok admits, he ate three or four frozen yogurt treats a day, although lately he has scaled back some. “My preference is original tart flavor, with a little ‘cake batter’ added in,” he said. “And I like the fruit toppings.”
By adding new flavors and toppings, the franchise plans to grow and retain its customer base, he said.
Last summer FroyoWorld had a store opening almost every weekend. “It has been pretty hectic and I don’t see it slowing down soon,” he said. “We’ve added more staff, but we’re working 24/7. It comes with the territory.”
Despite starting the business during an economic downturn, Bok, had few reservations.
“I don’t make any decision based on emotions. I have to have the facts to back it up,” he said. “Everything in life can be a calculated risk. Being educated in accounting at the UConn School of Business has helped me tremendously. Numbers don’t lie.”
Working with his sibling has been “awesome,” said Dennis, the older of the two brothers. “We have many common goals. That’s not to say we haven’t had a few fights. We have. But we’ll always make up and shake hands.”
When asked if there are any celebrities or famous persons he would like to share a frozen yogurt with, Bok is quick to answer.
“I would love to sit down and have a cup of FroyoWorld with President Obama, and talk to him about anything other than politics. That would be nice,” he said.
“We have had a few Boston Celtics and New England Patriots players as patrons in our stores, as well as Miss USA 2012 [Olivia Culpo]. I hope one day Ray Allen casually strolls into a store while I’m there. He’s probably my favorite UConn alumnus of all time!”
Take a break from studying and come join the Office Of Undergraduate Advising for some Hot Cocoa and Goldfish!
Fishies For Finals
When: Wednesday Dec.10th & Friday Dec. 12th
Where: School of Business, 2nd Floor Atrium
Time: 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Also consider full-time or internship opportunties with Pepperidge Farm, resumes to be submitted online through CareersAtPepperidgefarm.com
The UConn Chapter of Net Impact and the Honors in Business Association are co-sponsoring an informational program titled, “Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Sustainability in Business,” at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 21 at the Dodd Center’s Konover Auditorium.
The panel discussion will be of great interest to students who envision merging their careers with their passion for social improvement. Continue Reading