How UNB Students Help Grow Cleaning Company Launched During Pandemic
Business students are always eager to get out of the classroom and into the field. As part of the Venture Creation and Entrepreneurship course in the University of New Brunswick Faculty of Management, they put their studies into practice.
MBA students like Ada Brzezicki and Preshith Bosco had the opportunity to showcase their knowledge and help a local small business in the process.
Brzezicki and Bosco were assigned to Disinfectre Electrostatic Services – a Fredericton startup that specializes in cleaning and disinfecting businesses with an electronic disinfection system that began operating when the pandemic took hold in early 2020.
For their course, the students helped shape the business’s future by working with Rudy Morales and Ellen Achas, co-founders of Disinfectre, on their business plan.
“Every week there was a new thing, new projects, new research to do and then we were able to come up with a solid business plan at the end that we were then able to present to Rudy and Ellen that they could keep for themselves and use for their business pitches,” said Brzezicki.
With some advice from the course’s instructor, Dr. David Foord, the students were able to create a comprehensive plan.
“[David] really gave us the base knowledge that we needed and then we were on our own,” said Brzezicki. “It definitely sparked a lot of creativity amongst us and required a lot of teamwork.”
“We helped them with their business model, looking at their revenue, marketing strategies, their gross margins, and a two-year timeline was set for them,” added Bosco.
Brzezicki and Bosco were grateful for the real-life experience developing the plan as they completed the program in April and are now preparing to begin their careers.
Morales and Achas are thrilled to be involved with the program, which is delivered to local businesses through Planet Hatch in Fredericton.
“[The students] really helped us initiate a great plan and we executed it,” said Morales. “We had a very good rapport and collaboration.”
Morales and Achas say they continue to refer to the business plan created by Brzezicki and Bosco when making decisions and planning Disinfectre’s future.
“We work based on that business plan that the students created,” said Achas. “It’s an amazing program that helps start-up companies.”
Banner photo: Disinfectre Founders: Ellen Achas and Rudy Morales. Back: Preshith Bosco, Dr. David Ford, instructor; and Hannahbelle Weaver, Program Coordinator, Planet Hatch. MBA student Ada Brzezicki joins remotely in the tablet Ellen is holding. Image: submitted.