Over the summer, Entrepreneurship Club President Luke Fratello, a senior majoring in entrepreneurship and innovation, interned at Side, a real estate technology company that Fratello described as “Shopify for real estate agents,” where he worked as a growth enablement intern. His role spanned departments, from sales and marketing to product management. Internships, startups and new innovative ideas filled his calendar, and now those experiences are shaping the energy he’s bringing back to campus. At the center of this is USF’s Entrepreneurship Club.
Days were filled with cold calls, LinkedIn outreach and client meetings. The challenges were real; rejections, overthinking and balancing a 9 a.m to 5 p.m. schedule, but he recalls that the lessons were invaluable.
“Cold calling taught me how to face rejection and keep going. […] It pushed me to grow my communication and problem-solving skills. I’ve become more approachable, more confident in talking with anyone, whether it’s engineers or clients,” Fratello said.
With this in mind, Fratello leads as more than just a student organization president, but as an incubator, by providing students with the opportunity to create startups, engage with successful entrepreneurs and attend networking events off campus.
Members in the club are able to gain communication, leadership and adaptability skills in the real world. Opportunities, like their annual pitch deck competition, provide critical feedback on projects outside the classroom, whilst simulating presenting their ideas and concepts behind their newly formed businesses. “We want to showcase student projects while giving them the tools to grow,” Fratello said.
As Treasurer of the club, Nathan (Chibuike) Nkemere, a senior economics major, said, “We want to equip the next generation of founders.Whether it’s flying to Boston to pitch at a competition or just testing an app idea, the club helps make that possible.”
Nkereme himself benefited from the skillset and opportunities by being a part of the Entrepreneurship Club, as he spent the summer interning at Bank of America as a strategy and management summer analyst. He also worked on developing his own startup, a digital wallet designed to serve people with limited or no access to banking. Balancing an internship and developing a startup wasn’t an easy task, but he was able to succeed through discipline and focus inspired by the initiatives of the Entrepreneurship Club. “Entrepreneurship is about execution,” Nkemere reflected. “You can have a great idea, but what matters is how you focus, execute and keep improving.”
Students like Dahilon Mohammed, a junior data science major and secretary of the club, benefited from this perspective on entrepreneurship and innovation. This summer, he developed and launched Finlingo.ai, an AI finance assistant aimed at improving financial literacy and money management.
Mohammed credits the club with giving him the skillset to persevere, “It’s been challenging to juggle coding, testing and school,” he admitted. “But the club gives me a community to lean on and resources that help me take the project further,” Mohammed said.
With fall underway, the club has big plans. Leaders are working to increase membership, host large-scale competitions with prizes and bring in notable guest speakers.
“We want to showcase student projects while giving them the tools to grow,” Fratello said.
