Lavin Family Supports Students Entrepreneurial Aspirations
Lavin Family Provides Continued Support for SDSU Students’ Entrepreneurial Aspirations
Till Hartwig (left) and Till Kuehn formed their business, Till, to help restaurants sell surplus food to customers for deep discounts.
When the namesake of the SDSU’s Lavin Entrepreneurship Center, Leonard Lavin, passed away in 2017, his daughter Carol immediately became interested in carrying on with her father’s legacy of support for the center.
In 2012, SDSU’s Fowler College of Business Entrepreneurial Management Center was renamed after Leonard Lavin, the founder of the Alberto Culver Company, after he made a significant gift to the college’s entrepreneurship program.
Shortly after her father’s passing, Carol Lavin established the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center Startup Fund to offer seed money to SDSU’s student entrepreneurs who are enrolled in the Lavin Entrepreneur Program and/or the ZIP Launchpad. The first round of funding was distributed to student businesses affiliated with these two programs in May 2018.
Dr. Alex DeNoble, executive director of the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center, said that while the center announces the grants three or four times annually, students may submit applications throughout the year. “The seed money must be used to help them move the ball forward toward commercialization,” he explained. “The money can be used for things like prototype development and testing, web design, social media campaigns, legal filings, attendance at trade shows or conferences, or training activities,”
During the most recent round of funding in March 2020, more than $22,000 was distributed to six SDSU student businesses. Those businesses included:
- Black Dollar Beauty – product subscription service for men and women with curly hair
- Brixbo – stackable battery storage modules
- Clarity Car Washing – auto detailing service
- TekMate – technology training for older adults
- Till (formerly Save the Food) – app that helps restaurants sell surplus food with discounts to users
- Twin Events Management – event management company
David Sinclair, founder of Clarity Car Washing used his funding to purchase a 50-gallon water tank
Each of the businesses are in a different stage of commercialization, from Clarity Car Washing which has been fully operational since 2017, to Brixbo which is currently in the early development phase.
Several of the businesses, including TekMate, Twin Events Management and Till are using their money for certifications and incorporation fees, while Brixbo will fund their first product prototype. “This funding gave us a chance to really take off and got us to the point where we were able to move up our projected launch date,” said Till co-founder Till Kuehn.
“We are very grateful for the resources that were provided by the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center,” added Tam Nguyen, CEO of Twin Events Management. “While events are on hold right now, we can learn how to pivot into the virtual space and build up our certifications while we wait for the industry to rebound. Once that happens, we’ll be ready for it!”
