Chelle, who has run his own business, has a class of 10 second-year students who plan to launch two businesses in November. One group wants to sell pennants with the UD logo and class graduation years. They would target students on campus as well as alumni, possibly via a catalog. The second group wants to sell T-shirts promoting the annual basketball game between rivals UD and Xavier University. So the students are doing more research before they go forward.
Any profit made from the businesses is donated to local charities.
The businesses are supposed to close up shop every April, but Chelle knows if things are booming, the students may not want to give it up. But the businesses are far from full-time ventures for the students, who also have several other classes to attend to. In the meantime, Rudy's is getting a taste of real business challenges. It recently had to shed its video rental business when its supplier pulled out, Williams said. The small vendor was having trouble competing with giants such as Blockbuster and Hollywood Video.