NKU’s first Norse Marketplace showcases student entrepreneurship
Northern Kentucky University hosted its first-ever Norse Marketplace on Tuesday, a small open market that showcased the works of student entrepreneurs. The event featured 50 tables, 37 of which were student-led, where students and organizations advertised and sold their products.
The event was the brainchild of marketing and entrepreneurship student Sarah Lingren, who organized it with a group of student leaders in NKU’s Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization and Women in Entrepreneurship. Lingren said the event aimed to help the businesses get their names out there and help young business owners practice marketing and other business skills.
Lingren described some of the things on offer.
“There’s a ton of clothes and crocheted items, but there’s also 3D prints,” Lingren told LINK nky at the event. “And some people are selling art. Some people just selling little knick-knacks from around their house… Someone’s promoting their photography business. [Another owns] a barbershop, but they also sell shoes. So just kind of giving them a good space to be able to sell their stuff.”
To that end, the student businesses were not charged for tables, and neither the university nor the event’s organizers took a percentage of sales.
“We’re here to help the students make money,” Lingren said in a press release before the event.
Student vendors came from all different backgrounds. Despite the event’s origins, many were studying something other than entrepreneurship, often selling their products over and above their typical work in their major classes.
Dakota Anderson, a junior art student, had a booth displaying 3D-printed items.
“I bought [a printer] because I thought they looked cool,” Anderson said,” and it was off to the races.”
Anderson gave advice to people interested in experimenting with 3D printing.
“It’s good to learn the technology because then you can buy used and have amazing stuff for pretty cheap,” Anderson said. “Learn with tech, experiment with different kinds of filament because there’s really no limit on what you can make with these.”
Anderson would like to either start a maker space or become a professional artist after graduation.
Tatum Sakraida, who’s actually still a high school student at Simon Kenton High School and is part of the university’s young scholars program, which allows high school students to gain college credit, was selling crocheted items. Sakraida said that she’d been crocheting since elementary school.
“They sell pretty well with all ages,” Sakraida said of her wares, “but, specifically, those that are still in middle school and below.”
Sakraida said that she’s interested in studying engineering but still has plans to expand her crocheting business to selling online using Etsy, TikTok or Instagram.
Another booth helped people bedazzle their hair with tinsel. Isabelle Zumhagen, a first-year student who’s planning on going into cybersecurity, told LINK key she got the idea for the business after observing the skill on a trip to her grandmother’s in Florida.
“We [Zumhagen and her siblings] wanted to continue doing it with each other. So I put [tinsel] in for my siblings and my mom, and then a couple people asked about it, so we decided to start selling it,” Zumhagen said.
“It’s really just inspiring for students to pursue entrepreneurship and innovation,” said Zac Strobl, the Director of NKU’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
