Let’s Talk Business: Elon’s Marketplace Under the Oaks
You’ve probably seen the Marketplace Under the Oaks pop-up events, but who are the students that came up with the idea? Photo provided by Marketplace Under the Oaks.
The fountain outside of Koury Business Center is one of the most recognizable landmarks on Elon’s campus. Now, it’s become the partial home to a new initiative: the Marketplace Under the Oaks.
The marketplace was created last fall by seniors Laura Welch and Claire Bach in collaboration with the Doherty Center for Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship. Both Welch and Bach have been co- marketing and social media interns at the Center since January 2020.
Bach describes Marketplace Under the Oaks as “A network of current and former Elon University students who are entrepreneurial or creative, and that can be anything from they have their own business where they sell products or services, or they're bloggers, foodies. We believe that being creative is kind of a very wide array of anything and everything. And there's entrepreneurial spirit and everyone.”
Although students with businesses participate in the initiative, being a business major is not a requirement—just under half of the participants are actually business majors.
“I think because we are located in Sankey people have the notion that you have to be an entrepreneur major or something,” says Welch. “But that’s something we really want to emphasize is that all of our events within Marketplace Under the Oaks are open to all majors.”
The initiative was sparked when Welch and Bach were looking for alternative ways to promote student business owners, increase awareness about them on campus and increase their sales when Covid-19 hit.
Besides being a form of business promotion, Marketplace Under the Oaks also offers various services to student entrepreneurs, including advising from Doherty Center Director Alyssa Martina.
Additionally, the co-creators have worked with professors around campus to put together workshops on various aspects of entrepreneurship and business for students involved in Marketplace. On the day we spoke with them, they were having a pricing strategy workshop for student and alumni members, hosted by Elon professor David Higham, a business owner in his own right.
One student entrepreneur promotes her business at the marketplace. Photo provided by Marketplace Under the Oaks.
Upcoming workshops include one on legal problems that arise in small businesses taught by a law professor and how to file taxes as a small business. Welch and Bach stress that these workshops are important to give students one on one time with experts in business.
Knowing Welch and Bach are seniors, we delicately asked what happens to Marketplace when they graduate next month.
The Doherty Center has a team of eight “scholar interns,” four to five of which are seniors. Bach says they’ve already come up with a team of current interns who will be continuing the initiative, whose leadership they’re really confident in.
The initiative itself has expanded quite rapidly. What started as an opportunity for students to promote themselves on campus has now expanded to a partnership with Elon Dining and the Maker Hub. Besides the marketplace pop-up events seen from time to time in front of the McEwen or Clohan dining halls, the initiative now has a showcase inside the Fountain Market and is hoping to expand more showcases across campus.
Welch says something that’s been really rewarding about the whole experience is seeing the students involved in Marketplace connect with each other. “At events they’re exchanging each other's cards and creating and expanding their own network,” she says.
The alumni involved in the initiative have also had a big impact, with many of them becoming mentors for the current student entrepreneurs and fostering more personal connections. Welch and Bach say their hope is that through the years, the current students will in turn become mentors and “make this a continuous funnel of relationships and networks between the Elon community that we have.”
Students interested in becoming a part of Marketplace Under the Oaks can reach out here. Make sure to check out their Instagram to take a look at the student businesses featured and to find out when they’ll be hosting pop-up markets!