Student Voice: Deborah Abodunrin on DNEP’s Summer Internship Program

Getting my Hands Dirty: Impact Edition (Inside my 3 Months of Summer with DNEP)
Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project. If you asked me before the summer of 2024, I would have never heard of DNEP. Little did I know that later on, this single acronym would carry memorable outcomes, valued experiences, and pride in its mission. I joined DNEP with a curiosity to dive deeper into the intersection between Business + Impact. As a result, I left with my first comprehensive hands-on consulting experience, strong professional and personal connections with my peers from various schools, and invaluable skills gained from our work …

FIRST PERSON: Learning from Detroit businesses and fellow students

This summer, I am one of 31 interns working in the University of Michigan Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project +Impact Studio for Local Business. 
The interns come from Michigan Ross and U-M’s Stamps School of Art & Design, the School of Information, and the Ford School of Public Policy. The program began last year, with interns focused on creating tools for ecosystem-level problems in Detroit small businesses.

Course Spotlight: Michigan Ross Students Deliver Impactful Solutions and Strategic Recommendations to Minority-Owned Small Businesses

In MKT 313: Consumer Behavior, student teams work throughout the entire semester with real clients that are mostly from Detroit, many of whom are sourced by Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project. Student teams gather and analyze data to identify their clients’ target customer, what their customers value in their decision-making and why.  From this research, teams recommend marketing strategies for their clients to implement. The experience is designed to mimic an internship where students are enhancing many hard and soft skills like account management, research, communication, graphic design, and media planning. 

Image of Ross's BA670 class: +Impact Studio Designing Equitable Enterprises

U-M students create new how-to guides and equitable business models for green energy businesses to help Detroit entrepreneurs take advantage of new federal funding

“The Inflation Reduction Act sounds really boring,” says Michigan Ross professor Jerry Davis, “but it’s actually a big stack of money for green energy businesses. If you read through it, it’s easy to think of dozens of ways that this could benefit a city like Detroit.”
Davis and his colleague, Cat Johnson, of Michigan Ross’ Business+Impact designed a class to do just that. The class, BA670: +Impact Studio Designing Equitable Enterprises, teaches teams of grad students from all majors how to use equity-centered design thinking to develop businesses that improve communities. This year’s focus is on the green energy transition in …