Scholarbiz connects college students with real-world project work

When it comes to transitioning from college to the workforce, an obvious choice is getting an internship. The co-founders of a new startup in Troy want to create another option for that transition.

Scholarbiz has developed an online platform that matches businesses with students to complete project-based work for a fee. This alternative to traditional internships would benefit both business owners who have uncompleted work and college students eager to do it and earn their first paycheck.

"We realized it was an untapped labor market," says Mark Berishaj, co-founder of Scholarbiz.

Berishaj and his co-founder Mike Semanco came up with the idea after Berishaj visited a technical school and witnessed the transition gap firsthand.

They're aiming to interest college students first, but hope to eventually expand it to other students. Right now 70 students are one the site shifting through a couple hundred projects. Each project has an estimated number of hours and projected payday upon completion.

"Our target is for students to earn $12 to $15 per hour on average," Berishaj says.

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
Enjoy this story? Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.

Related Company