TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION) — September 20 marked the one-year anniversary of Student-Made Troy.
Icie Wallace, a Troy University student, has been selling her art since she was 13 years old, but for the past year, she has been part of a program that has allowed her to expand what used to be just a hobby. That program is Student-Made Troy.
“When I found out that this was a program that troy was about to take on, I just thought it was a really great way to experience having my work in a storefront,” Wallace said. “Having it in a permanent position, coming in and working for a few hours a week, and really having the control to be able to place my work within that space has been super helpful.”
In the year that Student-Made Troy has been in operation, it has provided 43 student creators with a platform to sell their products. It has also made a total of $14,000 in total profit for those creators. For the program’s director, those numbers signify a major success.
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“Seeing it come to fruition and having the cumbers to back up the success is very validating for me as the program director because it tells me that there’s a need for it and that the students are benefitting from it,” Troy Director of Economic Development and the IDEA Bank Lynne George said.
According to George, those $14,000 were made purely from in-person and online sales of the products made by the students. No donations, no events, no handouts.
“The majority of our sales are from the in-person store, but that total number includes online sales as well.”
George also emphasized that Student-Made Troy is more than just a website or store for students to sell their products from. It is an opportunity to experience what it’s like to run a business.
“It’s not just a shelf a put your items on,” George explained. “We want you to learn what it takes to grow your brand and to sell in a retail store, but then also on the management side of it, we have some student managers who do not have products that they’re selling, they’re not creators. That’s extremely important to the IDEA Bank’s mission, providing a safe, low-risk environment where students can really practice business management and entrepreneurship.”
Anyone interested in supporting student creators and purchasing their products can go to their website or visit their shop located inside the IDEA Bank in downtown Troy.
