Attending one of the nation's leading schools for entrepreneurs, many students at the University of Colorado at Boulder's Leeds School of Business are interested in learning to run a business.
One opportunity is the CU-Boulder student-owned and operated TREP Caf茅, which re-opened for business this fall in the newly renovated and expanded Koelbel Building. Created with a loan from the Leeds School and the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship, the caf茅 began operations in fall 2005 as a coffee cart in the original business building.
After closing for a year during the business building's renovation and addition, TREP is now a full-service caf茅 with its own retail space in the "information commons" area just outside the school's library.
"The great thing about this caf茅 is that it is run by the students and it benefits the students," said Patty Graff, assistant director of the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship, which sponsors the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization, or CEO, whose members founded and manage the TREP caf茅.
CU-Boulder student Michael Isham is one of four students in charge of running the caf茅 business for the 2007-08 school year. An accounting major in the Leeds School, Isham handles the accounting for the business while other students are responsible for human resources and management, marketing and controlling inventory.
"I've learned so much about the day-to-day operations of a business," Isham said. "One lesson I've taken to heart is if it's possible that something can go wrong, at some point it probably will. Always being prepared to handle these mishaps is a valuable lesson to learn."
While the business venture isn't profitable yet, the long-term goal is to put future earnings back into the Leeds School of Business to fund entrepreneurship scholarships and CEO's student programs and events, according to Isham.
Entrepreneur magazine and Princeton Review partnered in a survey of entrepreneurship programs nationally and ranked the Leeds School graduate program 14th in the nation in the magazine's fifth annual ranking of the top entrepreneurship programs. The survey results were released this month. Several other publications, including the most recent U.S. News and World Report rankings, have placed the Leeds School's graduate and undergraduate entrepreneurship programs in the top 20 in the nation.
The Leeds School will formally dedicate its expanded and renovated home, the Koelbel Building, at 3 p.m. this Friday, Oct. 19, with a public ceremony at the Koelbel Building's main entrance. Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, Denver real estate leader Walter A. "Buz" Koelbel Jr., CU President Hank Brown, CU-Boulder Chancellor G.P. "Bud" Peterson, Leeds School Dean Dennis A. Ahlburg and Audrey Klanecky, president of the Leeds School student government, will speak at the event.
The Leeds School began the $38 million expansion and renovation in spring 2006. The building is named in honor of the Koelbel family, leaders in the Colorado real estate industry. The expansion added 65,000 square feet to the existing 100,000 square-foot building.