Wayne State, together with the minds at TechTown, Detroit’s research and business incubator, have developed a new method to provide start-up businesses with more workers at little cost.

TechTown is currently looking for six additional interns to work at multiple start-ups. Openings are posted frequently in the Career Services Office in the Faculty Administration Building.

WSU expanded the federal work-study program to allow eligible students to take their work hours to start-up businesses that fit their interests.

Faris Alami, entrepreneurial talent champion at TechTown, said this project is a bridge between students and surrounding businesses.

“For the business community, it’s an opportunity to engage top talent that happens to be next door that’s not being leveraged,” Alami said. “When you do that, you are probably going to end up with companies that are going to hire those people and build relationships with them, and the whole community will benefit.”

So far, six interns have participated in the program. Aside from business, students have the opportunity to work at start-up enterprises in the areas of web design, engineering, and customer service, among others.

Cheryl Dove, student employment counselor at WSU’s Career Services Office, said the benefits of this program are plentiful.

“This is an increased opportunity for students to explore their interest by working with companies and their mission and ideals as a partnership,” Dove said. “It also gives the student an opportunity to get some exposure and also provide assistance to the companies with their start-up reference.”

Han Peng, a WSU business student and intern at TechTown, has participated in the program since Dec. 2010. He said the experiences gained through his internship are satisfying.

“It feels very fulfilling to see a business we take in expand,” Peng said. “We coach them with their business plan, their financial statement, training them and mentoring them. Eventually they get funding and their business takes off. To see their dreams become a reality, it’s a good experience.”

What also makes the program so beneficial for businesses is the funding method, which is two-fold. Funding comes from the work study program through the Office of Financial Aid, but a portion also comes from WSU. The program is a 50 to 100 percent reimbursement program.
The business pays a salary to the interning student and WSU reimburses the business 50 percent of what they paid – 75 percent if the business is a non-profit.

This reimbursement incentive resulted in multiple businesses wanting to partner with WSU to gain skilled help at a low cost. Nancy Christ, director for research collaborations at WSU, said other universities should consider adopting this expansion on the work-study program on their campuses.

“I would recommend them at least looking into it,” Christ said. “In fact, I have been contacted by two colleges who are very interested in how this works. They also have start-up companies that they work with.”