Economics major Li Jiang isn’t just studying money; he’s helping to rake it in.
The Weinberg senior is one of the co-founders of Campus Solutions, a student-run storage company exclusive to Northwestern. Since its founding in 2007, when the company served 200 customers, its base has grown to nearly 800.
Now the business is recruiting students and has some plans in the works for further expansion.
“We’re focusing on storage and shipping right now, but we can expand throughout the year,” Jiang said. “We’ll try to find voids on campus, and then create services to fill those voids.”
The staff of Campus Solutions has recently been busy bouncing around ideas for new services, such as delivering water bottles and other dorm essentials to students. The overall goal, however, is simply to increase the scope of the business. Last year, Campus Solutions increased its revenue by 90 percent and its customer base by 40 percent, leaving the company in a good position for expansion.
“We’re trying to expand our customer base as much as possible,” said Nancy Dong, a Weinberg sophomore and one of the company’s 14 staff members. “Our name is Campus Solutions because we’re trying to look for ways to help students on campus.”
During this week’s recruiting sessions, the company looked for five to seven “self-motivated” students who were interested in small business and entrepreneurship, Jiang said.
“Our small-term goal is to add people to our company, the mid-term goal is to expand within NU and our long-term goal is to expand to other campuses,” he said.
Weinberg sophomore Christina Pringle, who stored with Campus Solutions last summer, is confident the company can handle expansion.
She said if she needed storage services again, she would use Campus Solutions because “it’s so convenient.” Medill sophomore Lydia Zuraw also said she had a positive experience with Campus Solutions.
Employees of Campus Solutions said they regard the company they have built as more than just business.
“I never work for the pay,” Jiang said. “I do it because it’s like a family and I have a fun time running it. The most important value of the company is education, not money.”
