Starting a business – Notre Dame

NDP students take in a lesson in entrepreneurship in downtown Detroit.

Notre Dame students in the entrepreneurship/marketing class visited a WeWork facility in Detroit and heard from Faras Ksebati, far left, who recently developed a swimming conditioning app at WeWork called MySwimPro.

Juniors and seniors in the entrepreneurship/marketing class in Notre Dame's upper division got a real-life lesson in business start-ups and the people behind them today when they traveled downtown to WeWork, an office space and tech incubator that provides affordable workspaces and other resources to those starting or maintaining businesses.

According to Katrina Palushaj, who teaches the class along with Nick Kator, the students were able to experience the WeWork concept as well as hear from one of the business owners who is taking advantage of the services at WeWork.

"It basically was two trips in one for the class," said Palushaj. "The kids were able to see what WeWork is all about and also spoke to Faras Ksebati, who recently developed a swimming conditioning app at WeWork called MySwimPro."

Notre Dame teacher Katrina Palushaj said the trip was "a great experience for the students."

Palushaj said WeWork was founded by Adam Neumann and is a multi-million dollar concept that is changing the way of office space for millennials and entrepreneurs around the world. WeWork currently has two locations on Woodward in Detroit, one at Campus Martius and one near Merchants Row, which is where the students visited today. Worldwide, the company maintains 246 locations in 58 cities.

The application MySwimPro the group heard about today helps facilitate customized workouts and instructional video content to swimmers, both amateur and advanced, who are trying to achieve their fitness goals, to according Ksebati.

Palushaj also said that since the students are taking an entrepreneurship class, they need to see these kinds of real-life experiences of what an average day for an entrepreneurship company starting up is like.

"This was a great experience for the students," she said. "Mr. Kator and I saw the students getting totally engaged and interested in something that might very well be what they could be doing themselves in the future."

The group from Notre Dame met this morning at the WeWork facility near Merchant's Row in Detroit.

Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org.

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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.