U-M undergrads find entrepreneurial success with Bella Beads

Not all businesses started by University of Michigan students revolve around iPhone apps or bio-tech innovations. Sometimes it's just a simple, life-style business like Bella Beads. A pair of 19-year-old U-M sophomores started the bead-bracelet company last spring and have watched it take off from their kitchen tables this summer. Bella Beads produces a line of trendy and fashionable bracelets for men and women, mostly made from beads and other attractive stones. The company's line of products are now in two stores and is gearing up to add another store early this fall. The business hopes to have their wares in as many as 15 stores a year from now. More than enough work to keep the two college students busy outside of their coursework. Liza Sherbin and Nicole Hollander, lifelong friends from Bloomfield Hills, were inspired to start the business because of their love for fashion and trends and the reality of limited budgets for college students. The saw the bracelets for sale for $100 or more and decided they could make a better product cheaper. They now sell the bracelets for less than half of that. "This is something we have a passion for," Sherbin says. "We could have had someone make us an iPhone app and put our name on it but it wouldn't have been from us." Source: Liza Sherbin, co-founder of Bella Beads Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.