Thinking Outside the Bag

from 19th Street February 2020

Something Different

Technology Center Student Honored for Innovation, Entrepreneurship

Mason Love has created a product that gives people the chance to showcase their business logo or other custom designs on wood. Love, 19, and his business are leaving an imprint in other ways, too. The student at Moore Norman Technology Center was a winner at last year’s Norman Innovation Challenge, which highlights business concepts and innovations from students at the center and the University of Oklahoma. Love, of Oklahoma City, is in the entrepreneurship program at the technology center. He said the win was a confidence boost, a great learning opportunity and a chance to generate more exposure for the business he calls Rusentic, which combines the words rustic and authentic. “I really wanted to get myself out there, get myself known and let people know what I’m doing and what I’m trying to achieve,” he said. The Norman Innovation Challenge is held by the Norman Economic Development Coalition and it features students from the technology center and OU, competing and pitching their busi

16 | February 2020 ness concepts to judges. Love was the winner from the center with his product, which is a custom wooden bag tag that can be attached to purses, backpacks, gym bags or keychains. For the win, he received a trophy and $500, which he invested into his business. Love said the bag tag idea began to form after his class visited the Tom Love Innovation Hub at OU, which offers resources, equipment and space for innovation and entrepreneurship. Love learned more about using a laser cutter for materials and started to consider a product made of wood that could be customized using a laser cutter. Love said the tags combine his interest in carpentry and the enjoyment of creating an item with his own hands, as well as offering customers a unique product. A next step with his business is to create a website. Love also hopes to sell the product through Etsy and Facebook Marketplace. He alsot also wants to learn as much as

he can about entrepreneurship at the technology center. “With choosing the entrepreneurship program, I found that it gives you the freedom to see how far you really can take an idea you come up with,” he said. Love said he also enjoys challenging himself and learning how to refine and enhance business ideas. The center’s program helps students learn how to envision, develop and manage their own business. They also learn how to develop business plans, identify market demand and manage finances. Love said he also appreciates the knowledge and encouragement he’s received from Nancy Pierce, entrepreneurship instructor. “She really wants us to succeed in the world and she cares enough to share all this valuable information with us,” he said. Pierce said she’s impressed with Love’s ingenuity and dedication. She also said

it’s been exciting to watch him grow his skills in the program. Love said another benefit of the program is the camaraderie that has developed with his classmates. Pierce said that support between students lasts long after they’ve graduated from the program. She describes it as a family atmosphere with many of her graduates becoming mentors for current students. “They care about each other,” she said. “They support each other. It’s a whole village of people who care,” Pierce said. – 19SM

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