Bauer Entrepreneurship Students Raise More Than $300K for Scholarships
Annual Event, Wolffest, Puts Entrepreneurship in to Action
Published on May 31, 2018
The team Cougar Bites raised $98,664 - nearly one-third of all money raised - during this spring's Wolffest.
Entrepreneurship students at the Bauer College of Business came together this spring for Wolffest, a three-day pop-up food festival on campus, raising a record-breaking $315,762 for scholarships to support the college’s Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship.
The annual event is the senior capstone project for Wolff Center students, designed for upperclassmen to get hands-on startup experience. Student teams are in charge of every aspect of the competition, from contacting sponsors and setting prices to operations and customer experience during the event.
This year’s Wolffest teams raised the highest combined total in the history of the event, which has been part of the program since 2002 (known until 2008 as BurgerFest). Cougar Bites, the highest earning team, raised $98,664, nearly one-third of the total.
“Wolffest confronts aspiring entrepreneurs with the many challenges of executing a business,” said entrepreneurship senior Judy Mai, who served as CEO for Cougar Bites. “From concept-building to revenue-generation, we were able to develop business acumen in a plethora of ways. Wolffest drives home the importance of teamwork and establishing a supportive team culture, and it simulates the urgent and time-sensitive deliverables teams must meet in order to execute a successful project.”
She added: “Entrepreneurship challenges students to think outside of the box and seek ways to improve or create a product or process that adds value to the end user. Embarking on an entrepreneurial journey is not easy, and it will never be. It teaches an individual the importance of perseverance, failing, rising strong and grit.”