Biz inspiration: planting teak trees in Belize.

Recent Regis University graduate Patrick Freeman works full-time as an auditor for Deloitte and Touche LLP. In his spare time, he is beginning a business farming teak trees in Belize. He says it was the Coaching Coffees club at Regis (a weekly meet-up hosted by the Entrepreneur Club) that first sparked his interest in entrepreneurship.

"They would bring someone in from the community who would present on their [business] idea," Freeman explains. Students and professors would discuss possible ventures and even investigate their potential as viable business models and investments.

Thanks to the club and the sponsorship of the university, Freeman was first able to travel to Belize. Accompanied by Karl Dakin, Sullivan Chair in Free Enterprise at Regis, Freeman traveled to the teak tree farm that another Regis professor, Don Bush, and former Regis graduate student Ben Juarez, were planting. "That trip ultimately led to me working with them."

Teak is a "fast-growing hardwood," says Freeman. The material is durable, resilient and weather-resistant, long used in boat building. These days, it is becoming increasingly popular for items from furniture to indoor flooring.

Bush and Juarez had already started planting trees when they presented their business model at a Coaching Coffees meeting. With guidance from Dakin, the head of Coaching Coffees as well as the Entrepreneur Club, Freeman decided he wanted to get involved.

"I had no interest in beginning a business before...