Small business owners who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford to hire consultants are increasingly turning to business schools for consulting help from students eager to gain real life experience.

     The arrangements are win-win situations for both the students and the businesses, according to Jill Kickul, a management professor at DePaul University's College of Commerce in Chicago. "Students not only get to work one-on-one with an entrepreneur on important business issues, but they also get to apply what they've learned in the classroom and build their portfolio of work experience," Kickul said. "In return, the businesses receive valuable marketing research and business strategy advice from business students who study entrepreneurship."

     Kickul is one of three professors at DePaul's College of Commerce who teach a course in "Entrepreneur Strategy" that links teams of undergraduate and graduate business students with area entrepreneurs for 10 weeks. So far, students have provided consulting services for more than 100 area firms, from start-ups to growing small businesses. The number of businesses seeking student consulting has increased this year, creating a waiting list of entrepreneurs.

     During the 10-week class, students make several business site visits, interview owners and other principals about the issue they have been asked to tackle and collect financial, marketing and business operations information.

     Students may design and conduct market research surveys and provide an in-depth analysis of the business or its industry. At the end of the course, students make a formal presentation of their findings and recommendations to the business owners.>/p>

     One of the entrepreneurs who has received consulting help from DePaul students is Ralph Harrington of Sign me up SPORTS, a Chicago-based Internet company that provides online registration for sporting events, conventions and seminars. Last fall, Harrington worked with a team of five students who designed and administered a marketing survey for participants in the 1999 Chicago Marathon.

     The survey gathered detailed information from 130 runners about previous use of Sign me up SPORTS and polled those who did not use the service. The students also researched the current and future national outlook for event registration firms and provided an analysis of two competitors.

     "We're a small, lean business-to-business organization," Harrington said. "Having students help with one of our projects meant that we were able to delight our clients. I was impressed with the students' analytical skills. We plan to use the survey they developed to gather more information on our participants in future events when Sign me up SPORTS is involved."

     "It's great to see students get excited about working on a real business project," Harrington added. "It's exciting for them to be part of the solution." Odeh Akkawi, a DePaul senior who was a member of the student consultant team that worked with Harrington, said: "The Entrepreneur Strategy class was different from any other class I've taken where it's all book related material. You get to apply the concepts you learn in the class to a real business, setting up a strategy on how to accomplish real life goals. My educational process took me beyond the books and into a growing company."

     Entrepreneurs interested in participating in the course can submit their consulting needs via Kickul's Web site