Alan Campos

Alan Campos isn’t the typical California State University, Northridge undergrad. In addition to taking a full course load as a business student, Campos also owns SCV iRepair, a successful small business in the Santa Clarita Valley that offers repair services for iPhones, iPods and other mobile Apple products. He has now added the title philanthropist.

With a $1,000 gift to the university, Campos, a junior majoring in management, established the Alan Campos Dream Big Scholarship, an annual award for a fellow CSUN student. To ensure that the scholarship fund continues to grow, Campos has promised to donate $5 for every cracked screen he repairs at iRepair’s new location in Northridge not far from the campus.

The first scholarship, of $500, will be awarded this fall to a student with at least a 3.0 grade point average who has completed at least 30 units, with another $500 scholarship scheduled to be awarded in spring of 2014.

“So many of my friends, and other students I’ve met, are struggling with money,” said Campos, 22, of Santa Clarita. “It’s tough, going to school full time and trying to get a job. So many students don’t have enough time for school because they work. I figured I’m going to do my part with a scholarship.”

Campos’ path to entrepreneurship and philanthropy started in 2010 while he was a student at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita. When the screen of his iPhone broke, he went to an Apple store to get it fixed and was astounded by the price they were charging. He found a how-to video on YouTube, ordered the part he needed and did the repair himself.

His friends and family were impressed, and he was soon fielding requests to fix other screens. Seeing the potential, he spent about $200 to buy a desk from Craigslist and set up a website, Yelp account, Facebook page and turned his parents’ garage into an office. SCV iRepair was born. Within a couple years, he opened a retail location on Constellation Road in Santa Clarita and hired two employees. He has just opened a second store on Reseda Boulevard a couple blocks from Cal State Northridge.

From the start, Campos said he knew he had to combine business with philanthropy.

“I was raised to give back or help out,” he said. “So, I wanted to pair up my business with a nonprofit in the community.”

At his Santa Clarita store, Campos donates $5 for every repaired screen to a local food bank. For the Northridge location, he said supporting CSUN seemed an obvious choice.

Owning a business and balancing school can be challenging, but Campos said it’s worth it, pointing to the networking and real-world learning offered by CSUN’s College of Business and Economics.

“The material that’s being taught, I can directly apply it to my business,” he said.

“My whole purpose in life is to help others, no matter what,” Campos continued. “I want to show that business can help out instead of just make a profit. And I want to inspire other students to do their part, by giving or volunteering.”

For more information about the Alan Campos Dream Big Scholarship or to contribute, contact Jerry De Felice, director of development for student affairs, at (818) 677-3935 or jd@csun.edu.