W. P. Carey's newest academic unit boosts local small businesses and students

Undergraduates Alan Serrano and Leander Newton drive growth on ASU's West Valley campus.

From hiring and retention needs to inventory challenges to lacking the knowledge and financial resources to grow their organizations, there are dozens of reasons why small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) struggle to keep their doors open.

"SMBs are the lifeblood of our economy and account for over 99% of Arizona's businesses," says Supply Chain Management Professor of Practice Hitendra Chaturvedi. "As the largest public university in the country, what role will ASU play in keeping the small- and medium-sized business economy healthy?"

To address SMBs' challenges, W. P. Carey's School of Technology, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship (TIE) created the Center for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (CSMB). The center supports local SMBs through technology solutions, workforce development opportunities, funding strategies, grant-writing assistance, and mentorship opportunities. CSMB is also home to the school's SMB Lab, a first-of-its-kind lab dedicated to building a thriving ecosystem of SMBs in the Valley while educating students on the importance of supporting local economies.

Created by Chaturvedi and Senior Associate Dean of Faculty and TIE Director Gopalakrishnan Mohan, and in partnership with the Southwest Valley Chamber of Commerce (SWVCC), the SMB Lab hosts solutioning exercises to challenging SMB problems through a no-holds-barred brainstorming session by bringing together faculty, students, local government officials, and business leaders. The lab's output includes business recommendations implemented by student teams under the guidance of a faculty member which contributes to students’ experiential learning. Over the past two years, Chaturvedi estimates the lab has created over $5 million in value for participating companies and generated over 30 projects, providing nearly 100 students with real-world experience.

Since its founding, the SMB Lab has partnered with local businesses, including the coffee and health food company Modern Grind, the sustainable facilities management service provider Verde, the electronics manufacturer Latham Industries, the sign-printing company Kaizink (formerly Halo Ink), and the Boston-based sustainable waste management provider Synergy West Recycling and Waste. Chaturvedi says that empowering students to lead SMB Lab projects positively impacts local businesses while benefiting student learning.

"Let's put our money where our mouth is and let students implement these projects," says Chaturvedi. "SMBs allow students to experience a little bit of everything — an opportunity they don't always have at larger organizations. These experiences are instrumental for their learning."

Driving economic growth and student learning

Alan Serrano (BA Business Administration '25) is one W. P. Carey student gaining real-world experience through the SMB Lab.

Serrano dreamed of attending ASU since childhood, participated in the Barrett Summer Scholars program as a high school student, and served as the president of the ASU West Valley campus' Business Ambassadors club last year where he helped the organization increase its membership by 50%. Serrano has also participated in several SMB Lab sessions and led a student group this spring assisting former SMB Lab participant Latham Industries with a business acquisition project. Alongside teammates Andrew Beardslee (BA Entrepreneurial Leadership '25), Varun Veda (MS-BA '24), Zoya Faiz (MS-BA '24), and Kumaresh Natesan (MS-GL '24), Serrano planned and managed projects focusing on market research and development, marketing and rebranding, and logistic research. The project will continue later this year with a go-to-market (GTM) strategy proposed by the team last semester.

"Engaging students in SMB lab sessions provides them with hands-on experience tackling real-world business challenges while generating valuable data and insights," says Latham Industries CEO Tracey Latham, who offered Serrano a paid summer internship following his work this spring. "Their fresh perspective and enthusiasm breathe new life into projects while fostering an environment of innovation and dynamic problem-solving."

Serrano has continued the work he began with the SMB Lab this summer while learning about data and pricing analysis and its impact on company decisions, assisting with Latham Industries' website, and collaborating with an engineering consultant and graphic designer on the company's brand through his internship. Serrano is also interning for the TIE school and supporting CSMB through business-to-business (B2B) marketing.

"As an intern, I've been involved in helping make decisions that are building up the TIE school, including meeting with business founders and CEOs," says Serrano. "These businesses are what TIE is built around, and it's been a blessing to help these founders realize their goals."

Leander Newton (BA Business Administration '25) is another TIE intern helping the Valley's small businesses. Newton began interning for TIE in January and is looking forward to the fall semester when he'll lead a student group assisting SMB Lab participant Verde in developing and expanding their human resources processes, a field he's interested in pursuing after graduation.

Newton discovered W. P. Carey as a first-year student and his internship has helped him hone his time management and communication skills while interacting with TIE faculty, students, and local CEOs has expanded his professional network. Newton says he enjoys supporting small businesses and learning about each business owner's professional journey.

"When I first began interning at TIE, I didn't understand how impactful we were when supporting small businesses," says Newton. "The work I do at TIE and my passion for SMBs is fulfilling and motivates me to continue to assist TIE in the great work it's doing."

Building a national SMB Lab database

Through their internships, Serrano and Newton have played critical roles in building an SMB Lab database that tracks all the information associated with the SMB Lab, including company information and engagement details, lab successes and business challenge solutions, and a network of potential SMB participants.

"They're two great examples of students providing so much impact and value to a whole department before graduating," says TIE Business Analyst Senior Meghana Sridhar (MS-BA '23). Sridhar is helping to build TIE on the ASU West Valley campus and fostering an ecosystem for SMBs by creating the SMB Lab database infrastructure and managing TIE interns. "I've been so impressed by how intentional and innovative they are when solving needs within the ASU West Valley campus and West Valley community."

"Alan and Leander's enthusiasm for and contributions to TIE have been truly inspiring," says W. P. Carey Undergraduate Programs Enrollment and Engagement Program Manager Rhea Duncan. "Working alongside them to build TIE has been a great source of motivation for me."

Serrano and Newton are responsible for creating department-wide infrastructure through their database development roles. Serrano focuses on creating the database's list of clients and recently built the database's ChatGPT prompt, which will assist small business owners searching for solutions to business challenges by drawing on successful examples from previous SMB Labs. Newton is developing the database's academic tracking, which will be used for student projects, engaging with student feedback, and tracking student and faculty information. The information will then be captured in case studies and used in W. P. Carey courses to teach students about supply chain management, marketing, finance, and other business functions.

The database will only become more critical to CSMB's growth as more local SMBs seek out the TIE school for resources. Mohan expects the SMB Lab to assist three times as many businesses in the coming academic year. As universities across the country establish SMB Labs on their campuses, Chaturvedi hopes the SMB Lab and TIE school serve as an example of the resources universities can provide local businesses.

"W. P. Carey is spearheading this effort and partnering with other schools to become the central point for SMBs," says Chaturvedi. "Whether for recruitment, education, problem-solving, or product development, TIE can help."

TIE has played a key role in the university's West Valley Forward initiative since opening its doors in 2023. The school offers several undergraduate and graduate degrees taught by faculty from various disciplines, and several research and activity centers, including the upcoming Center for Experiential Learning, which will connect students with practical, applied experiences in for-profit and not-for-profit businesses. Mohan says that through academic programming and community collaboration, the TIE school is a hub for research, experiential learning, and networking opportunities for students and local business owners.

"We want TIE to be an experimental hub," says Mohan. "If people want to try something, we want this to be the place they try it."

Photo one: Alan Serrano.
Photo two: Leander Newton.