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Robert Sales arrived at UNI knowing he wanted to be an entrepreneur. The Pella native’s business instincts had been apparent since he was a first-grader who won a contract mowing vacant lots in his neighborhood. At UNI, Sales focused on the food industry, launching a food truck business and then, with help from professors and mentors, narrowed his focus to selling mini doughnuts. 

It was 1976 and Arthur Cox was at his first day on the job as salesperson at a Quad Cities real estate firm. Excited to learn the ins and outs of his new position, he followed his boss to the open-office area where the company’s brokers spent a portion of their workdays. Rows of desks filled the space, and Cox’s then-boss pointed to an empty workstation and left Cox to do his job without any more introductions or training.

You may recall a recent news story and photo of a young, enterprising man with a garage full of toilet paper, hand sanitizers, and other merchandise. This was early in March, and he decided to invest money in items that might escalate in value. Although there was a “run” on toilet paper, the young man certainly did not “corner the market” on these commodities. He broke no laws or used any inside political advantage. Other people were free to stuff their garages with toilet paper and hand sanitizers.

The Covid-19 virus has turned the college experience upside-down as students have been removed from dorms to stop the spread of the disease, and face-to-face classes have been moved to remote delivery.  Potential first-year and transfer students are being encouraged to consider a ‘gap year’ and delay enrollment until the educational environment returns to ‘normal.’

It’s hard to replicate the feeling of investing in a real portfolio made up of real money. At UNIBusiness, the Krause Fund provides an opportunity for students to do exactly that. It started more than two decades ago, when Bill Krause, the founder of Kum and Go, donated $100,000 to four universities, including UNI, hoping to see them compete on performance.

Ryan Cahalan (Finance, ’99) has always considered Iowa his home. That was true even as he worked almost 20 years of his real estate career outside of the state. He returned to Iowa just a few years ago, and is now working to grow his own business, Artisan Capital Group in Des Moines, of which he is a co-founder and partner.