Fowler students empower micro-entrepreneurs through community partnership

For the past five years, San Diego State University’s Fowler College of Business and its Lavin Entrepreneurship Center have partnered with SCORE San Diego and the Center for Leadership & Entrepreneurial Studies to assist San Diego entrepreneurs from underserved communities turn their business ideas into sustainable ventures.

This year, Fowler expanded its role in the program to better serve the need for business resources among program participants. Instead of pairing one student intern with one entrepreneur as in years past, each of the eight entrepreneurs were assigned two student interns from Michael Sloan’s Management Internship (MGT 401) class who provide hands-on administrative, human resources and technical support.

It was also the first time  students from Julie Hansen’s Intermediate Financial Accounting (ACCTG 326) served as interns to offer each entrepreneur customized financial and accounting support, meaning each entrepreneur had three SDSU student interns to help them launch their enterprise.

The program not only offers pro bono business assistance to local entrepreneurs, but it also offers valuable real-world experience to Fowler upper-division students as they prepare for their post-graduation careers.

Recent SDSU graduate Sophia Anthony (’25, management) worked with Akitso, a nonprofit restaurant consulting service, to help the owner manage and track the company’s finances.

“During my internship, I felt like I wasn’t just completing an assignment — I was building tools Akitso could actually use to make decisions and manage the business more effectively,” said Anthony. “The experience allowed me to make a real impact in a company and understand just what it takes to run a successful business.”

Anna Sotto, Akitso’s owner and founder, said Anthony’s contributions created a financial structure that was used extensively during the company’s roll out.

“I used Sophia’s financial model to analyze costs and it helped a lot,” said Sotto. “The structure she created was a great launch pad for me to build from and I really appreciated her work.”

Another recent Fowler graduate, Jonathan Roehm (’25, management), shared a similar experience while interning with William Marrs at Marrs Solutions.

“What I loved most about this internship is the fact that I was able to provide value while learning so much in the process,” said Roehm, who worked on the company’s website design and accompanied Marrs on a sales call.  “I still use what I learned from that sales call to this day in my work as a real estate agent. “

Impactful assistance

Marrs, whose company is in the beta test phase of producing hands-free toilet paper dispensers, noted student interns helped to define his target customer profile and were instrumental in gathering marketing research.

“Their research helped me to refine my target audience and to tailor my messaging specifically to hotel owners and operators,” said Marrs. “I’ve incorporated these insights into my outreach strategy, search engine optimization, development of sales materials and early-stage positioning as I ramp up for product launch.”

For other businesses, the interns’ work was equally impactful.

“Our student intern assisted us by creating an HR handbook,” said Lisset Valencia-Pittman, co-founder of Condor Visual Media LLC. “This helped us increase capacity for our business.”

According to Steve Sivitz, a mentor with SCORE San Diego who managed the student interns, this year’s three-student approach not only provided value for the entrepreneurs but also served as a labor of love for the interns.

“There was undeniable enthusiasm from the students to be so closely involved helping the delegates launch their businesses,” he said. “I would estimate that half of the students have their own entrepreneurial drive and all of them appreciated the opportunity to help mold and evolve their role and contributions.”