If you have old photographs lying around your home just waiting to be organized, then Rhon Bell might be your man.

Bell, 22, a fifth-year business and finance student at the University of Maine, officially opened PhotoScan from his Orchard Trails apartment in Orono on Monday. He aims to “digitize memories, one shoebox at a time,” by scanning collections of old photos, retouching them and saving them onto a CD for future use.

“I wanted to have some entrepreneurial experience for my resume,” the Washburn native said in an interview Wednesday. “I started with an idea basically of how people can digitize their photos … but then I realized I could reduce red eye, enhance faded colors, remove scratches or dust.”

Bell got the idea for his business last fall and went to UM’s Student Innovation Center, now called the Foster Student Innovation Center. With help from some of the eight-member staff of students and business experts, he created and distributed locally a survey to gauge demand for his service. When 75 percent of respondents said they would be interested, he decided to move forward and the center helped him write a business plan and legally register his business.

The 5,000-square-foot center, which offers business and project development services to students of all disciplines, is hopping with networking events, workshops, seminars and meetings between students and businesses, financiers, advisers and professors.

“The larger goal is just to create a culture starting with our students that is more innovative and entrepreneurial so that while they’re in the safe environment of school they can try out starting a business if that’s something they’re interested in,” said Renee Kelly, director of economic development initiatives at UM. “If you’re going to be successful in your career, whether you’re an entrepreneur or not, you still need to be the type or person that’s going to come up with innovative ideas, motivate people to work with you on those ideas and communicate them effectively.”

Some local businesses, including Zeomatrix in Orono, have come to the center looking for students to help them with growth strategies.

In the past two months, the center has seen between 15 and 20 new students looking for help in starting a business. Student ideas are never immediately accepted or rejected; rather, each entrepreneur is given homework – a process of researching and evaluating the idea, Kelly said.

Right now more than five companies and student projects are thriving in the center and offer a range of products, including Yo Bon Blueberry Bites, a dark-chocolate-covered, wild Maine blueberry frozen yogurt dessert, and Sophia, a new system for delivering online education.

Bell has yet to find his first customer, but hopes to establish a niche by aiming at a target market: people who grew up without digital cameras. Businesses similar to PhotoScan exist on the Internet, but Bell and Kelly believe Bell’s customers will be more comfortable knowing to whom they are entrusting their photographs.

In recent weeks Bell has been traveling to retirement communities to drum up business. He said he charges 35 cents per photo, and discounts packages of 100 or more photos. He offers free pickup and delivery within 15 miles of Bangor.

“I just thought it would be interesting to work on my own business. I’d like to have something bigger someday, but I thought this would be a good way to start out, learning how the process works,” Bell said.

To contact PhotoScan and Rhon Bell, call 299- 2386.