Nick Alm, ’17 B.S.B., is determined to make a difference in the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. As a student in the U’s Carlson School of Management, he started its first LGBT group. As co-founder of the Mossier Social Action and Innovation Center in Minneapolis, he’s now helping LGBT entrepreneurs in Uganda, Kenya, and the Dominican Republic. 

How did Mossier get started?

I met Charlie Rounds, ’77 B.A., the other co-founder, while interning at a consulting company that specializes in social impact work. Charlie was a client. He had met with entrepreneurs in those countries and wanted Minnesota-based Fortune 500 companies to help them. My first project was to Skype with transgender folks in Uganda who were trying to start a pig farm. We helped them develop a plan and budget, then started fundraising.

What about them impressed you?

These are people living in a country where homosexuality is illegal. They’ve been forced to become entrepreneurs because they’ve been denied employment. They don’t have business backgrounds, and many haven’t had a chance to go to school. But they want to do something to make it easier for the next generation. 

What’s it like being an entrepreneur yourself?

I get to wake up every day and do something that drives me in a really genuine way. Receiving scholarships was critical to my being able to pursue this opportunity more comfortably and with less risk. 

Nick Alm was the Carlson School's 2018 undergraduate commencement student speaker. Here what he had to say.