Luis Marin used to believe there was little room in the business world for creativity or independent thinking. “I always assumed that when you were first starting out, routines and expectations would be pretty rigid,” says Marin, a second-year business management major at BMCC. “You’d show up for work, do your job, go home, then come back the next day and do it all over again.” His participation in a groundbreaking BMCC student internship program has changed that view dramatically.
Marin was one of 14 students who got an inside view of how an actual business operates – specifically 1-800-MATTRESS – via the BMCC Student Entrepreneur Real Business Experience. An outgrowth of last year’s BMCC/CUNY Student Entrepreneur Seminar Celebration, the program is designed to involve a select group of BMCC business students in the day-to-day operations of a successful business, “and enable them to apply the theoretical knowledge they gain in class to real-world situations,” says Carmen Leonor Martínez-López, assistant professor in the Department of Business Management.
Open-door policy
Every two weeks, over the course of fourth months, Marin and his fellow students spent a day at the Long Island City headquarters of 1-800-MATTRESS, rotating through each of the company’s major functional areas, interacting with department heads and senior management, and contributing their input to meetings and market strategy sessions.
“I was really impressed – and pleasantly surprised – at how receptive the company’s senior executives were to our ideas and to answering our questions,” says Marin. “Their doors were always open.” 1-800-MATTRESS, which markets quality bedding products via the Internet and by on a 24/7 basis, today has annual sales in excess of $170 million and a reputation as one of the world’s most successful direct marketing companies. Exclusively a domestic operation, the company invited Marin and his fellow students to contribute their ideas to a discussion of how its business model might be introduced in Latin America.
A chance to give back
“For me, this was an especially exciting prospect,” says Marin, who was born in Colombia. “The idea of selling bedding over the phone – and delivering it the same day – has never been introduced in my country, but I thought it could really go over well. My plan is to gain as much knowledge as I can here and eventually return to Colombia to apply what I’ve learned – both to succeed as an entrepreneur and also to give back to my country.”
Among the senior managers with whom the students interacted was CEO Napleón Barragán, who founded the company in 1976. “It was Mr. Barragán who offered our students this remarkable opportunity to gain real-life exposure to business,” says Martínez-López. While the students did not receive academic grades or credits, she adds, “they are now better prepared to move forward in their careers as entrepreneurs or active members of a business organization.”
