The Young Pros Academy organized a contest called “Young Pros build a business” on Feb. 29.
The Young Pros gave a 30 days free trial for the popular site “Shopify”, with prizes for the best-selling shop created during the event, with a grand prize of $250 in cash.
The event, which was held in the Student Commons, was organized to encourage students to become entrepreneurs, during a time when opening a business while still in college can seem like an hard task.
Various speakers from different online shops participated at the beginning of the event, offering their advice and experience in the field.
“It’s not about the money,” said Marcos Pulvirenti, owner of one of the shops, All4.fit. “When I thought of my brand, I thought ‘I want to give power’.”
The event was mainly a tutorial on how to set up a shop, how to make it relevant to search engines, the correct use of keywords and claimed that everyone can sell if their idea is good and driven.
Progressive house music played through the speaker at a low volume, and there were many tables and people helping each student individually.
David Paré, president of Young Pros and second-year entrepreneurship student, claimed that the event, that counted 30 people, was the biggest they have hosted.
“The vision of Young Pros is to give student a start,” said Shaktisinh Sodha, a first year entrepreneurship student, who works closely with Young Pros.
“(Young Pros) can teach you how to do it,and how to do it smart,” Michale Reid, a media and marketing media student, said “Don’t do it because you have to, do it because you want to break records.”