Consulting

The McKenna Student Consulting Program takes place each semester and provides an opportunity for students to get hands-on consulting experience while doing good. In a supervised environment, students work on problem-solving with low-income and disadvantaged entrepreneurs in the early stages of their businesses. Students from any and all majors are welcome to participate, and no business background is required. Students come up with practical, low-cost, creative solutions to problems or challenges the entrepreneurs are dealing with. The focus is on producing real deliverables and working with the clients on the implementation of these creative solutions. Students have done everything from registering businesses and helping them get certified as woman- or minority-owned to creating social media campaigns, simple bookkeeping systems, marketing brochures, websites, logos, pricing approaches, and much more. Student consultants need a strong work ethic, a desire to make a difference, creativity, and a willingness to tackle problems in areas where they may have little or no previous experience or knowledge. Students can earn course credit or simply gain consulting experience as a volunteer.