Eduardo Kaito Alzati Amano fulfilled one of his lifelong goals when he arrived in the U.S. to attend the University of Georgia. Inspired by his father, he knew he had one more goal to accomplish: entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n
Alzati, a senior management and international business major, founded Dawgy last year, a student-led nonprofit app that serves as a student marketplace, job listing platform and hub for local deals.<\/p>\n
He was inspired to create the app, which features a space for students to buy and sell things, after not knowing how to get rid of some of his old items.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs an international student, I just looked around my dorm room and I was like, \u2018How am I gonna get rid of all this stuff? Am I just gonna throw it away?\u2019\u201d Alzati said.<\/p>\n
His idea for the app was originally solely an online marketplace, but after further consideration, he decided to incorporate the job listings and the deals and discounts page to create a \u201cone-stop shop\u201d for college students.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know people are looking for jobs all the time. I know that people are selling their stuff all the time. I know that they’re looking for discounts,\u201d Alzati said. \u201cThe additional features that we want to add on, these are all resources that I think UGA students are longing [for].\u201d<\/p>\n
Alzati was born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico, where he watched his father interact with people and be active in his work as a restaurant owner. Entering college, Alzati knew he wanted to follow in his father\u2019s footsteps and pursue entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never saw [my dad] dress up to get ready for his nine to five in a suit,\u201d Alzati said. \u201cThat kind of idea instilled [in] me that I want a career where I\u2019m able to do that, and not be constrained by going into the office and clocking out at 5 p.m.\u201d<\/p>\n
The initial process of creating Dawgy was not easy for Alzati. His original co-founder, who had a background in coding, was assigned to develop the app. But when he did not return to UGA after summer 2025, Alzati had to pivot.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really isn’t a linear process,\u201d Alzati said. \u201cThere’s always going to be some issues that arise.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alzati unexpectedly had to invest the money he made from an internship into the project and hire third-party developers. While he designed the app\u2019s general layout, the developers coded it.<\/p>\n
Dawgy was published on the Apple App Store after Alzati completed the application process. To ensure that UGA students could securely use the app, he received approval to add a student email verification feature. Further, he spent time visiting local small businesses, collecting their deals and adding them to the app before it officially launched.<\/p>\n
As he developed Dawgy, Alzati encountered unexpected obstacles.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are some complications that come with developing your own business as an international student,\u201d Alzati said. \u201cNamely, you can’t generate revenue from a business that you make.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alzati specifically mentioned the challenges that came with the authorization process and getting his own LLC, which kept him from generating revenue.<\/p>\n
Alzati participated in the UGA Idea Accelerator program through the Terry College of Business, which places a large emphasis on revenue creation. This led him to change his path once more and switch to a nonprofit model.<\/p>\n
\u201cI sat down and thought to myself, \u2018What’s the real reason why I’m doing this? How can I pivot to make this an app that’s successful, but that’ll also help me in my career and that’ll give me good experience?\u2019\u201d Alzati said. \u201cThat’s when I completely turned over and did a nonprofit model.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alzati used this as an opportunity to express gratitude to UGA.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2019m not going to generate any revenue, I want to do it for the good of UGA. I feel like I owe it to UGA because they gave me a spot,\u201d Alzati said.<\/p>\n
Marty Parker, a senior lecturer in the Department of Management at UGA, recognized Alzati\u2019s dedication to Dawgy and UGA.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Alzati] is one of those students that comes to class, that participates, that [is] engaged,\u201d Parker said. \u201cHe’s open and friendly \u2026 and obviously hard working \u2014 those would be the kinds of traits you expect to see in an entrepreneur.”<\/p>\n
The app\u2019s marketing phase began at the beginning of 2026. After speaking at the UGA Morehead Honors College convocation ceremony, Alzati recruited two students to assist with Dawgy.<\/p>\n
Vivian Nguyen, a freshman intended marketing major and Dawgy\u2019s social media coordinator, is responsible for curating social media posts and increasing non-institutional outreach. Hoping to pursue a career as a marketing coordinator for a start-up company, she said she has gained relevant skills by being on the Dawgy team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s a nonprofit, but it’s also similar to a startup, where I can take risks with doing marketing strategies,\u201d Nguyen said. \u201cI don’t have to worry about the standard that\u2019s already established and successful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sai Shankar Sadhu, a freshman management major and Dawgy\u2019s head of human resources, has personally used Dawgy\u2019s marketplace, saying the app is efficient and easy to use. He also applauds Alzati for keeping the app up to date, especially with the local deals and discount features.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that it’s relevant is really nice,\u201d Sadhu said. \u201cIt keeps me coming back, because there’s always something new.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Sadhu could improve anything about the app, it would be garnering a larger student user base so that more items are posted and sold, creating a regular flow of business.<\/p>\n
Right now, the marketing phase mainly focuses on getting the word out about the app to UGA students, but Parker believes Dawgy has the potential to reach an even larger base: the entire SEC.<\/p>\n
\u201cFive years from now, I would say at least the SEC [could be reached],\u201d Parker said. \u201cI don’t really see why the app couldn’t be rolled out across the country once [Alzati has] worked all the bugs out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alzati said watching the app become a reality has been a rewarding experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo see students actually use it has been an incredible experience because to me, it’s like it paid off,\u201d Alzati said. \u201cIn some way or another, I am giving back, even if it’s one student that I helped land a job at UGA.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alzati knows that apps like Dawgy already exist \u2014 but what makes this one unique is the convenience of having all of these resources in one place.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m not inventing the wheel here \u2014 these resources exist,\u201d Alzati said. \u201cThe problem that I’m solving is the fragmentation of these resources and putting them into this centralized hub.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Alzati\u2019s original motivation came from making his parents proud, it evolved into a desire to pursue difficult things for his own growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to succeed. I feel motivated by being the best and pursuing my own career,\u201d Alzati said. \u201cI think that’s really important to me as well \u2014 having the creative freedom of doing what I want in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dawgy app is Alzati\u2019s way of starting his entrepreneurial journey while also expressing his appreciation for the community that has invested in him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that this feeling of deep gratitude is shared amongst a lot of other international students that got the opportunity to study here,\u201d Alzati said. \u201cYou don’t have to be born and raised here. Don’t take it for granted that you were given a place here, and don’t be afraid to create impact.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eduardo Kaito Alzati Amano fulfilled one of his lifelong goals when he arrived in the U.S. to attend…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[257],"tags":[172756,40585,79,24621,10401,57257,179,18,236,38519,19,17,723,1590,279,46231,32939,33056,24620,82,172755],"class_list":["post-374447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-app-store-apple","tag-branches-of-science","tag-business","tag-business-economics","tag-cognition","tag-desire","tag-economy","tag-eire","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-human-communication","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-management","tag-marketing","tag-mobile","tag-motivation","tag-private-sector","tag-social-psychology","tag-startup-company","tag-technology","tag-terry-college-of-business"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116194164316652001","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}