I am very excited to share that I am now co-owner of a student-owned business called Bears Bikes on the campus of WashU! The business has four co-owners, and we rent and repair bikes for students on campus and sell merchandise and biking supplies. We have over 500 bikes currently in our rental pool and hopefully will expand that to meet the demand we are seeing. Bears Bikes was founded in 2004 as part of the Washington University Student Enterprise Program (StEP) and has grown exponentially since.
Biking is one of the healthiest and most practical transportation alternatives. As part of my commitment to improving the health of my community, I thought Bears Bikes was a perfect match for me to help achieve this mission. I would like to thank the Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship for making student-owned businesses at WashU possible.
A brief explanation of StEP is as follows: The Washington University in St. Louis Student Enterprise Program (StEP) provides a unique opportunity for students to own a business on campus that serves the Washington University community. Student owners can supplement the valuable business and entrepreneurial skills they learn in the classroom while gaining real-world experience as they manage and lead their own businesses.
StEP is a nationally recognized small business development program committed to equity and developing students equipped with knowledge, skills, and resiliency to succeed as innovators, entrepreneurs, and enterprise leaders.
I will have more to follow on this exciting new adventure on campus, and I am very happy to be a growing part of providing healthy and sustainable transportation to the students at WashU!