91精选

91精选 students don鈥檛 just experience the world beyond campus. Sometimes, opportunities come right to the classroom!

That is the case for Dr. Mike Chitavi鈥檚 Global Business class, which spent part of the fall semester developing international business plans for Sidekik, a soccer juggling tool. Sidekik was founded by Eli Dent, who began working on the company during high school and college.

Dent is looking to expand his business globally, and that is where Chitavi鈥檚 class became involved. As part of their coursework, the class met with Dent and developed business plans for Sidekik focused on opportunities in several different countries. The teams of students presented their plans in a 鈥淪hark Tank鈥� style pitch at the end of the semester.

鈥淥ne goal is to create a global sales strategy,鈥� said Dent. 鈥淭he students presented their plans, which include analyzing cultures and how business in done in different places. The class looked at everything from climate to history鈥攅verything.鈥�

Since graduating from the College of Charleston in 2017, Dent has been expanding his business around the globe, while looking at new product lines. Dent began selling the Sidekik to one local store and has expanded from there. 鈥淪ince 2017, we have doubled in revenue every year and have started doing a lot of more in terms of sales.鈥�

He and the business moved to Chicago in 2018, where he became connected with Chitavi. 鈥淲hile I was playing soccer semi-professionally, David Kenga of Charleston Battery coached me. He connected me with Dr. Chitavi. We had a great conversation about business and soccer. Dr. Chitavi was really interested in how to make this part of his class.鈥�