by Jessica Railey

The seven members of Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) organization at Buffalo State College attended their first competition in early April and came home with two awards, rookie of the year and first runner up.

SIFE has existed at Buffalo State for only three years, although the organization itself was founded in 1975 by Sam Walton, owner of Wal-Mart.

What does SIFE do? SIFE creates projects to help other people gain the necessary skills needed to get jobs, manage their own finances and understand economics. In order to do this, students go out to the community to seek out different projects with businesses and business owners.

“SIFE requires each team to have a few business members from their community sit on a board, which helps with project ideas, funding and sponsoring, mentoring, and networking,” said Jennifer Butler, president of the SIFE chapter at Buffalo State.

This board is called the Business Advisory Board (BAB). Some members of the Buffalo community who sit on the SIFE BAB at Buffalo State include:
• Eric Linsky, the first president of SIFE at Buffalo State
• Winsome White, entrepreneur and owner of Eleanor’s Trading Post and Bella's Boutique on Hertel Avenue
• David White from Sonus Advertising
• Gary Link, assistant branch manager of Evans National Bank

“Our BAB has been extremely supportive of our team this year,” Butler said.

The goals of SIFE, as stated on its Web site are to:
• teach ethics
• give an understanding of business and marketing development
• encourage the entrepreneurial spirit
• teach economics and finances
Some projects Buffalo State’s SIFE has worked on are:
• teaching elderly how to use computers at Courtstone Manor
• “Dress for Success,” a program that is offered on Buffalo State campus, which trains students how to have a successful interview
• teaching economics in grammar schools: “We worked with third-grade students from Public School #99 on topics relating to our city,” SIFE’s annual report stated.

“We do this because it is advantageous to give something back to society before ever leaving a college campus,” said John DeNisco, professor at Buffalo State and SIFE adviser.

After completing the projects stated above, as well as others, SIFE members at Buffalo State attended the SIFE International and Regional Competition in Boston on April 3.

“After completing the educational outreach projects in the four areas, we put together media coverage, an annual report, bios of the competing team members and a Power Point presentation,” Butler said. “The judges were established businesspeople from major U.S. corporations like Aflac, Pfizer, Liberty Mutual, Petco, Best Buy and Finish Line.

“This is a huge accomplishment for my team. We are a young team, only being around for three years at BSC. We had only two returning members from last school year, which made it difficult to get all the project ideas we had up and running. By the time we left for competition, we had completed 10 projects,” she said.

Presently, SIFE at Buffalo State is working on a project in conjunction with D’Youville College, Canisius College and the University at Buffalo. The project is Hertel Collaborative and its aim is to “enhance the Hertel area and build up their businesses,” DeNisco said.

Stated in its annual report, Buffalo State College’s SIFE chapter is working with 20 clothing stores, novelty shops, restaurants, and bars to revitalize the Hertel Avenue area of North Buffalo. SIFE has partnered with an advertising agency to develop a capsule that will increase affordability of television and radio advertising.

Presently, SIFE at Buffalo State is comprised of only seven members.

“We are working on a big recruiting plan right now,” Butler said.

To do that, the SIFE team will be attending the freshmen and transfer orientations this summer for recruitment and also “getting in contact with presidents of many organizations in hopes to create long-lasting friendships.”

All the current members of SIFE are business majors, but everyone is welcome to join – freshmen through seniors, and graduates of any major.

The SIFE office is in Chase Hall, Room 326. SIFE holds general meetings every Tuesday in Chase Hall, Room 313, at 12:15 p.m.

For more information, visit: League pairings for Boston competition
Buffalo State Business department

Jessica Railey can be contacted at Railjl11@buffalostate.edu