A Texas-based credit union has found a way to simultaneously support student entrepreneurs as well as local charities thanks to a course at Texas A&M University.
Aggieland Credit Union, a subsidiary of Greater Texas Federal Credit Union ($935.6M, Austin, TX), has supported business students for more than a decade as a part of the May’s Business School Integrated Business Experience (IBE) program. The semester-long course requires post-graduate students to create and operate a business, effectively allowing them to “learn business by doing business,” according to the university.
“We’re proud of the evolution of this program,” says Sidney Henderson, Aggieland’s senior vice president of marketing. “It started out small, but now it’s a big part of our identity and our community impact strategy. We get to be part of something meaningful. When a student says Aggieland Credit Union helped me start my first business, that’s a powerful statement.”
Shark Tank In Aggie Country
At the beginning of the semester, students break into teams that must present a business idea and a charity of choice. They then pitch their ideas to a panel of Aggieland Credit Union staff members, who challenge the business models, marketing plans, pricing, and more.
“We push them to think deeper,” Henderson says. “Do they have a compelling story? Is their nonprofit mission integrated into the brand? Are they doing something creative with their design, their sourcing, or their packaging?”
For example, teams gravitate toward apparel year after year. So, the judges’ panel challenges them to define what makes their shirt different? Why should someone choose this shirt over another? In recent years, teams have also pitched more digital concepts, things like e-commerce or online-based services.
Once the panel approves a project, the credit union provides a zero-interest loan to fund it. Indeed, a team’s ability to repay that loan from the revenue it makes is one success factor for the class.
“That’s been the biggest challenge, making sure the students understand the responsibility of the loan,” Henderson says. “Even though it’s a zero-interest loan and we’re flexible, it’s real money, and they have to pay it back.”
Although the credit union has never had a team default, it has had to intervene when students overordered supplies or didn’t calculate costs correctly.
“That’s part of the learning experience,” Henderson says. “We want them to experience what entrepreneurship is really like, not just the fun, exciting parts but also the hard parts.”
Once the team pays off the loan, students donate the remaining profits to a nonprofit organization of their choosing.
The Biggest Year Yet
10 Recipients Of The Fall 2024 IBE Program
Voices for Children — $17,512
Brazos Valley Cares — $8,515
Aggieland Humane Society — $7,922
Brazos Valley Food Bank — $7,424
OnRamp — $6,272
Patriot PAWS Service Dogs — $3,112
The REACH project — $2,712
The Boys and Girls Club — $1,460
Paws & Claws — $1,216
Special Olympics — $926
The fall 2024 IBE program presented several changes. For starters, students were allowed to work on an extended timeline that enabled them to sell during the holiday season. Naturally, that boosted sales and visibility. Additionally, the credit union increased the loan amounts available to students, giving teams more resources to nail down an effective strategy and afford higher-quality products.
And for the first time, students were allowed to use official Texas A&M brand marks, a change for which the credit union’s CEO, Howard Baker, strongly advocated.
“The inability to use those marks has been a big challenge over the past decade,” Henderson says. “Our CEO had a frank conversation with the university saying we can make this so much better for the students. For us, it’s not just about selling the credit union, it’s important that we’re adding value for the students.”
The result? Participating teams generated a record $137,305 in revenue, with more than $57,000 donated to Austin nonprofits. Donation sizes ranged from $926 to $17,512.
“That’s all student generated,” Henderson says. “That’s what’s so impressive.”
As the official financial institution of Texas A&M, Aggieland Credit Union uses this program to nurture its relationship with the university while supporting the next generation of business leaders.
“Financial education is so key to our mission,” Henderson says. “It’s important to us that we give these students a real-world experience. Plus, the fact they’re tying in philanthropy is important from a credit union perspective.”
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