Al Schaben/Daily Nebraskan
Jenny Kros and Michael Van Buskirk have gone from running lawn-care services to running
the Entrepreneur Development Corporation.
Sales total $26,000
IN U students run corporation >
By Sara Bauder Schott
Senior Reporter
and Michelle Dyer
Staff Reporter
Moving up in the business world,
two University of Nebraska-Lincoln
students have gone from owning lawn
care services to running a corpora
tion.
Mike Van Buskirk, a sophomore
business administration major at UNL,
said the Entrepreneur Development
Corporation has given him a new
perspective on the business world.
Van Buskirk is president of the cor
poration.
The corporation assesses banks and
small companies to determine where
their strengths and weaknesses lie,
Van Buskirk said.
The firm also has been sponsoring
seminars in the Lincoln Public Schools.
The seminars are designed to help
raise students’ interest in entrepre
neurship, Van Buskirk said. The firm
hires people to give the seminars
because the students do hot have time
to give them, he said.
The corporation was incorporated
Aug. 31, 1990, and sales so far have
totaled about $26,000, Van Buskirk
said.
Successful entrepreneurship is not
new to Van Buskirk.
He had owned his lawn-care serv -
ice in Sidney since he was 8 i/2 years
old. He had four people working for
him when he sold his business in 1989
after deciding to go to college.
The lawn-care service had grown
as much as it could, Van Buskirk said.
The corporation has more potential
for growth, he said.
The corporation is run by students.
Van Buskirk and Jenny Kros, a sopho
more accounting major at UNL and
executive treasurer of the firm, are
partners in the corporation. They are
on the executive board of the corpo
ration and run it.
Brent Sites, a freshman business
major, is an associate at the firm and
is involved in day-to-day operations
but has no voting power, Van Buskirk
said.
“The success or failure of the cor
poration is completely dependent upon
the entrepreneurs who are running
it,” said Robin Anderson, director of
the Nebraska Center for Entrepre
neurship at UNL. Anderson advises
the students who are running the fledg
ling corporation.
Kros owned a lawn-care service in
Blair. She said she got involved with
the corporation by participating in
the Young Entrepreneur Scholarship
Program.
“My business before was extremely
small,” Kros said. “This gave me an
opportunity to deal more with com
munication and working with people.”
Not only does the firm provide
students a chance to learn how to run
a business, it offers help to small and
medium-sized businesses, Kros said.
“All of our products are entrepre
neurial inclined. We set it up so we
can help people develop entrepre
neurial skills,” Kros said.
Van Buskirk said he works about
40 hours a week at the firm. Kros said
learning to budget her time has been
one of the most valuable things she
has learned by being part of the cor
poration.
The success of the corporation is
determined by the positive sign on
the balance sheet. The investors in
the corporation expect some return
on their investment.
“Entrepreneurship is the growth of
a company, not the starting of one, so
making money is still the primary
goal of the company,” Anderson said.
Partners in the corporation gel paid
wages similar to those paid for an
internship and also receive “phantom
stock” in the corporation, Anderson
said.
“Phantom stock is not actually stock.
It is a form of profit-sharing that the
students accumulate while running
the corporation. They receive the
money upon graduating from a four
year college program,” Anderson said.
“We want to make sure that stu
dents want to graduate, that this is just =
good experience for them, not their r
career,” he said.
Professor seeks help for MAMA
By Shelley Biggs
Staff Reporter
Funding is the key to further ex
pansion of a newsletter from UNL to
troops in the Persian Gulf, a professor
said.
David Hibler, assistant professor
of English and founder of the Middle
American Manuscript Association, said
that the newsletter started with a cir
culation of 144 copies a week with
the first issue, but with the fifth issue
1,500 copies are in circulation.
But expansion of MAMA may be
inhibited by lack of funds to keep the
newsletter in weekly operation, Hibler
said.
He said he has kept the newsletter
alive through gifts of a large quantity
of paper and printing from an anony
mous donor.
The newsletter’s success is un
known, Hibler said, because the first
issues have not yet had time to reach
the Persian Gulf and return to Ne
braska.
“It takes anywhere from two to
three weeks to get to the Persian Gulf,
and 11 days to be returned,’’ he said.
“Hopefully, I can find a way in the
future to cover printing costs,” Hibler
said. Hibler said he hopes to find a
local sponsor for the newsletter.
To get a sponsor, he said, he has to
show a need for larger circulation to
troops in the Persian Gulf. Hibler said
he hopes to eventually publish 144,000
copies per issue.
Hibler is working to build a circu
lation base. He is working with the
Operation Desert Shield Support Group
in Lincoln and the mayor’s office to
compile the names of local people
stationed in the Persian Gulf.
Jim Otto, coordinator of economic
development in the mayor’s office,
said the project was started to help
people get in touch with servicemen
and women in the Persian Gulf.
“The names are complied on a
volunteer basis,” Otto said.
Those names are unavailable to
the public due to the Federal Protec
tion Privacy Act, he said.
Otto said people are receiving news
of the project by way of radio. The
mayor’s office already has received
close to 20 names and is expecting
more as word gets out, he said.
UNL police suspect group theft at parking lot
From Staff Reports_ _
Four to five thieves possibly were
involved in stealing items from six
cars in the Harper Residence Hall
parking lot Monday morning, Uni
versity of Nebraska-Lincoln police
said.
“It’s got to be more than just one
person,” said Sgt. Mylo Bushing.
The thieves probably cooperated
to watch for vehicles and pedestrians,
he said.
The thefts probably occurred be
tween 5:30 a.m. and 7:12 a.m., be
tween the times when police patrolled
the lot, Bushing said.
Losses totaled more than $490.
A seventh theft from the Harper
lot was reported late and did not occur
at that time.
Net>raskan
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Through this year's effort we
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