The University of Northern Iowa Enactus team was recently selected to receive a $1,500 grant to complete the Sam’s Club Step Up for Small Business project.

Enactus is a nationwide organization that consists of a community of student and business leaders who strive to take entrepreneurial action to create a more sustainable world. The name itself is comprised of parts of three different words, “entrepreneurial”, “action” and “us.”
“The UNI Enactus team is about seeing possibilities, taking action and making progress each and every day to ensure success in who we are and what we do,” project leader Brandon Honeyman said.

This year the team is joining up with The Other Place in Waterloo. For OP manager Tony Patterson, the Sam’s Club project is nothing new. A few years ago, he was a member of a team that placed second nationally with the project.
“The challenge is to help the sustainability of the small business, so we decided to tackle the biggest problems,” Honeyman said. “We are finding new ways to increase lunch revenue, more effective marketing strategies, a new software system for a rewards program, social media growth, increasing applicant quality and raising apparel revenue in the store.

“Through these aspects, we have high goals and hopes for making a difference in the business,” he added.

The grant money, which is awarded through an application process, will go directly to what the group and Patterson believe will be most beneficial to the success and demand of the restaurant.

The group has already purchased table toppers. Hand dryers, apparel designs and a new rewards system are on the list of possibilities of future purchases.

“We hope to spend $1,500 of the money to make a turnaround for the business worth well more than that,” Honeyman said. “It all depends on the willingness of our group to perform and brainstorm the best ideas, which I feel confident in saying our ideas have been very solid thus far.”
The partnership will last until March of next year, when the progress will be presented at the national conference in Minneapolis.

The team appreciates the opportunity and encourages all the support they can get.

“Every little thing helps, so even a simple Facebook ‘like’ on the Ridgeway OP in Waterloo page would go distances,” Honeyman said. “We represent this company in the eyes of Walmart, and we want to ensure our presentation has no room for error. UNI has never received first place, and we want nothing more than to change that just as we want to change the business in a positive, lasting way.”