Wells Fargo Low-Interest Loan Fuels UNL Student's Business

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Wells Fargo have teamed up to start a first-of-its-kind in the nation program to support new businesses created by business students. Steve Navin, president of Wells Fargo in Lincoln, will today present a check for $4,900 to Alex Petrov, a UNL student with the ability to create electronic circuits, the vision to start a new company, and a plan to make the business a reality.

Like many college students, Petrov's credit history is a blank page -- there's no credit history as a basis for lending decisions. That's where the creativity of Terry Sebora, director of UNL's Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship, and Navin's colleagues at Wells Fargo came in. Through its Community Development Corp. to assist new business development, Wells Fargo has provided $50,000 in low-interest funds that UNL students will be able to borrow at interest rates typically available only to people with solid credit histories. Students enrolled in Sebora's course in entrepreneurship -- who have qualified their businesses as legal entities and developed solid plans for conducting transactions -- are eligible for this new category of loans. Earnings from the fund will be used to repay Wells Fargo and to grow the money available to students in the future.

"This is about growing the economy and creating new jobs," said Sebora, whose course in entrepreneurship was recently singled out as the most entrepreneurial course for undergraduates in the nation by the U.S. Association of Small Business Entrepreneurs.

"The philosophy behind the program is, 'You can't score if you don't get on base.' The most difficult part of becoming an entrepreneur is taking the first step of accepting ownership responsibility," Sebora said.

The Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship will organize a loan review committee to review applications and set interest rates. The committee includes Sebora, a Wells Fargo loan officer, students from the College of Business Administration banking class, under guidance of their professor; and a representative of the loan administrator, Community Development Resources, a Lincoln-based nonprofit that will provide loan maintenance services and ongoing technical assistance to the borrowers after they graduate from UNL.

Alex Petrov came to Nebraska with his mother from Russia when he was 8 years old. He is now a senior honors electrical engineering student, planning to graduate in May 2005. His company, AVP Circuits, produces experimenter boards that are used to teach students how to build electronic circuits and program microcontrollers. The products will also aid electronics designers and hobbyists. He has already designed prototypes and circuit boards for several potential clients. Wanting to take the next step, Petrov signed up for the new venture creation entrepreneurship course to develop a plan that would help him make his designs the basis for a business and to gain insight into successful business practices.

The funds Petrov receives from Wells Fargo will be used for typical start-up expenses such as equipment, materials, research and development, and advertising. This endeavor will bring together three areas of education at the university in a hands-on learning experience: entrepreneurship, banking, and engineering.

CONTACT: Marilyn Hoskins, College of Business Administration, (402) 472-3382