Jonathan Allotey ’15 (a biochemistry and molecular biology major from Accra, Ghana) recently decided to start exploring entrepreneurship. He started with an idea: he wanted to build a marketplace for College of Wooster students to buy and sell items, such as books and furniture, from each other. Jonathan hoped that this idea would help students avoid buying books through large online retailers. The site also aims to help international students and students who travel to school and can’t bring large objects like couches for their dorm rooms.
Jonathan’s idea became a reality in only thirty days after he spoke with Director for Entrepreneurship Peter Abramo, who immediately connected Jonathan with Launch, the College’s entrepreneurship club. After tagging along on Launch’s recent trip to a local small business incubator, Jonathan was connected with a web developer who supervised Jonathan’s progress and helped him put together CollegeItem.com which started running on February 22. In less than a week, one item has been sold through CollegItem.com and three others have been posted by students. Jonathan’s eventual goal is to complete a year of beta testing on CollegeItem.com at the College and then expand to other schools in the future.
By Madeleine O’Neill ’16