Every Aggie has a passion for service and a drive for excellence. The desire to hone one’s skills and talents has created a long-standing legacy at Texas A&M. These qualities also form the basis of entrepreneurship, the ability to imagine, create and maintain a start-up business. 

The individuals in the Aggie Entrepreneurship organization uphold all these qualities and foster a helpful and loyal community dedicated to supporting the unique business ventures of their members.

One of the group’s legacy members, urban planning graduate student and treasurer of the organization, Logan Russell, owns and operates his one-man baking operation, Runner’s High Cookies. He provides handmade cookies and cookie cakes, which are often delivered by foot or bike if ordered in the Bryan-College Station area.

“It started as a high school cross-country fundraiser. … Then I came to A&M and would bake cookies for my friend group,” Russell said. “They were the ones that really galvanized me into starting a business about it because they said, ‘You need to get these cookies out here to more people on campus.’”

For electrical engineering junior Avik Khadayat, who recently joined the organization, the accepting community within Aggie Entrepreneurs has allowed him and his business to thrive.

“They make everyone feel like a priority,” Khadayat said. “If you truly want to be successful, you have help from others.”

Khadayat, along with his coworkers and friends electrical engineering junior Zachary Nowroozi, general engineering freshman Quan Pham, general engineering junior Cadin Dinneen and general engineering freshman Colby Kugel, developed a service called Aruzi AI, which automates the process of scheduling things for small businesses.

“We were trying to solve a problem of email marketing, where we could automate that for small businesses using AI,” Khadayat said. “It can read emails. … Instead of having to go back and forth seeing what works on our schedule … it will automatically add it to my calendar.”

Khadayat also emphasized the diverse educational backgrounds of members of Aggie Entrepreneurs.

“We have some different majors,” Khadayat said. “No matter where we come from, we all have a similar goal, just different ways to get there. When you go into here, everything has purpose. Everything’s aligning to help you.”

The organization focuses on outreach and support for its members, providing them with opportunities, knowledge and resources, society, ethics and law senior Chris Mascardo said.

“We do workshops, we also have guest speaker events … and we also do collaborative events,” Mascardo said. “We also work with the McFerrin Center (For Entrepreneurship).”

As president of Aggie Entrepreneurs, Mascardo was able to mold the organization into what it is today and save the club from extinction.

“Back when it was the Student Business Owners Association … We were pretty passionate about entrepreneurship, but there needed to be some changes with the org,” Mascardo said. “We knew that we didn’t want to get limited with the branding of the Student Business Owners Association … so we changed our name and built out the website.”

An important part of starting a business is getting recognized, marketing the product and making things convenient for consumers. Russell vented his frustrations about how difficult it is to compete with corporate businesses in Bryan-College Station and how limited market space in the area can be too exclusive and shut out newer businesses. 

“There aren’t that many opportunities here as an entrepreneur,” Russell said. “You have your First Fridays, you have your BCS farmers market … but you don’t have anything truly going on just for the student population here on campus, and sometimes you can’t even get into all the markets because sometimes they require experience.”

To counteract this, Aggie Entrepreneurs has worked with the university to provide chances for student businesses to operate on campus.

“We provide opportunities for our student vendors to sell on campus through the organization,” Mascardo said. “We’ve done this four or five times with Logan’s businesses. We’re also opening it up to our other members … but it’s been pretty great so far.”

Being an entrepreneur isn’t just a title to tack on but an essential part of these students’ identities. 

“I wouldn’t even say there’s a difference in me being a student or an entrepreneur,” Khadayat said. “I think all of it combines into one. So what I’m studying and what I’m learning is the same path.” 

This vision has allowed Khadayat and his team to work tirelessly on Aruzi AI.

“We had some basic coding knowledge, but to code something and to code an assignment is two different things,” Khadayat said. “Just being patient, you know, all summer, we probably slept like four hours a day. It was just all work. And I think it’s all about wanting to do something that sort of helped us. … But I mean, if you really want to do something, you’ll figure out a way.”

The need to give back to the local economy is important for the Aggie Entrepreneurs. The Bryan-College Station area is highly commercialized, with big chains cutting off the market for many locally-owned businesses. It’s important for students to take a step back from convenience and consider the smaller businesses trying to survive around them, Russell says.

“That money is not going to some CEO out of state,” Russell said. “It’s all staying local here in the Bryan-College Station area. That money is always being spent. I’m sure most of that is going back into here. It’s always going back into the local economy.”

This is also a particularly passionate subject for Russell, as it connects to his interest in urban planning.

“For every 1,000 cookies I make, I spend an hour picking up trash,” Russell said. “One day, I want to bring my business out to bus stops, make places to sit down and get food while they’re waiting at the end of the day. And that’s brilliant. … Entrepreneurs are the ones that are trying their best to improve life here on campus.”

The spirit of entrepreneurship can be found in anyone with a dream they want to realize, and discovering ways to make one’s dreams a reality is plentiful in college.

“Just go all in with whatever you want to do,” Khadayat said. “Life is really short, and who knows where we’ll be in five years? We’ll never be in this opportunity of freedom that we have right now. … Do anything you want to do and be anyone you want to be.”

Editor’s note: Logan Russell serves as The Battalion’s carrier/distribution manager. He delivers print newspapers and magazines to stands and does not serve in an editorial role.