Beedie School of Business News

Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business has launched the Beedie Endowment Asset Management (BEAM) fund. With a value of $5 million, it’s the largest undergraduate-student managed investment fund in Canada.

The BEAM fund is second in size overall after SFU’s $10.8 million Student Investment Advisory Service, which is managed by SFU graduate business students.

Students participating in BEAM will be allowed to manage $5 million of the Beedie School’s endowment fund, created in 2011 with philanthropists Ryan and Keith Beedie’s $22 million gift to the business school.

Ten-15 third-year undergraduate finance students in SFU’s Bachelor of Business Administration program will be admitted annually to the investment initiative for a two-year term. They’ll tackle investment research, analysis and the buying and selling of Canadian bonds and equities, and gain significant real-world investment management experience.

“The opportunity to manage the Beedie Endowment Asset Management fund rigorously tests and expands the students’ qualitative, quantitative and analytical skills, and truly launches their careers in the finance industry while they are still in school,” said Peter Klein, finance professor at the Beedie School and advisor to the BEAM undergraduate fund.

“One of the elements that distinguishes this initiative is that we have a clearly-defined client and mandate,” he said.

The fund follows a value-investing mandate set by the client – SFU – through a conservative investment policy statement. The fund is composed of three actively managed asset classes: cash, Canadian equity and fixed income.

The fund’s performance will be monitored closely against relevant benchmark indices, and the results will be presented quarterly to a performance review committee consisting of industry experts keen to lend their expertise to challenge and advise students.

Students will also complement their investment management work in the fund with coursework in portfolio management and strategic asset allocation.

The Beedie School of Business brings a long track record of success to student-managed investment funds. Its Student Investment Advisory Service (SIAS), which is managed by graduate business students from Beedie’s Master of Financial Risk program, is the largest graduate student-managed fund in the country, and helps attract graduate finance students to SFU from across the globe.

Impressively, the SIAS fund has weathered global economic volatility, and has enjoyed strong health in the past year. It currently has a valuation of nearly $11 million.

SIAS is funded by contributions from HSBC Bank Canada and Lohn Foundation. Like BEAM, the fund follows a value investing mandate set by SFU. SIAS is composed of four actively managed asset classes: Cash, Canadian Equity, Global Equity and Fixed Income. SIAS reports monthly compliance and performance to the client and faculty advisors, and performance review presentations are held on quarterly basis.

Tags: BEAM, Beedie, Beedie Endowment Asset Management, investment fund, School of Business, sfu, SIAS, Student Investment Advisory Service, undergraduate

On November 22, 2011, Wideman Education Foundation (WEF) hosted their third annual Project Management Career Speaker Event to high school students at Simon Fraser University’s Surrey campus.

Among the speakers was Rich Brodowski, Project Manager with the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. He described his PM experience that involved providing governance to Bell Canada’s Olympic Program, ONE that involved, voice, data, logistics and business functions for the winter games.

Joan Vincent, President of the Wideman Education Foundation, spoke about tips and trends with project management and the diverse industries that hire project managers.

The students were also engaged through an activity organized by WEF regarding work breakdown structures, a project management tool that breaks larger projects into smaller tasks.

The event provided real-life experiences that gave students a better understanding of how project management could be applied to their potential careers. One student commented: “I enjoyed the speakers as it provided a lot of useful information of PM and its applications in the real world.”

About Wideman Education Foundation (WEF)

The Wideman Education Foundation is a registered charity to promote project management skills and principles to young people. WEF believes that project management can be used in daily living and not only restricted to work environments.

Student teams are invited to undertake a project and compete against other teams. Winners are selected based on team performance, project results, project reports and final presentation.

Click here to read more about the Wideman Education Foundation.

Tags: awareness, career event, high school, Joan Vincent, project management, project manager, Rich Brodowski, students, Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, wbs, Wideman Education Foundation, work breakdown structure

Beedie School of Business BusOne students at Simon Fraser University’s Surrey campus will spread some Christmas cheer for the United Way on Friday, Dec. 2.

The students, all in their first year of study, are putting their business creativity to the test to raise money, doing everything from photos with Santa to a “Rent-a-Biz-Kid” opportunity, during the special United Way event on the Mezzanine from 2:30 – 5:30 p.m.

Among other ideas, shoppers can purchase prize-popping balloons, a variety of seasonal crafts and an array of baked Christmas goods. For details, watch their video http://at.sfu.ca/pazrQv.

The BusOne program was officially offered at SFU last fall to provide a smooth transition for first-year students through a weekly workshop that introduces them to the extra-curricular opportunities that are available within the Beedie School of Business.

“The United Way challenge is a great way for the new students to tap their creativity and practice some of their business skills, all for a good cause,” says instructor Jennifer Beale.

The program’s latest crop of students will follow in the footsteps of the veteran fourth-year marketing students, who have a host of similar activities up their sleeves for the annual Market on the Mezzanine annual fundraiser the day before, on Dec. 1, 10 – 3:30 p.m.

The event will feature local community crafters, artisans and students, along with a book sale, silent auction and samosa lunch.

Last year fundraising events for the United Way at SFU campuses totaled more than $20,000, while the university community raised over $160,000.

Tags: Beedie, BusOne, community involvement, fundraising, practical experience, School of Business, sfu, Simon Fraser, students, Surrey, United Way

Five projects by SFU students—all social ventures aimed at creating positive change—were chosen from 10 finalists to win Ashoka Canada’s Be a Changemaker Challenge on November 23. The event was sponsored by the CMA Centre for Strategic Change and Performance Measurement.

The contestants were eligible for up to $1,000 each in seed funding to launch their social ventures, in addition to incubation support through Ashoka Canada and Ashoka’s Youth Venture. Most of the entrants were from SFU Beedie School of Business lecturer Shawn Smith’s BUS 492 class in social entrepreneurship and innovation, which teaches the fundamentals of creating socially impactful ventures while coaching students through the process. “More than just community engagement I think it is entirely critical to instill a sense of responsibility, and possibility, in our emerging leaders,” says Smith.

SFU Beedie School of Business winning projects:

• Fusion Kitchen, developed this fall by Sonam Swarup and Chantelle Buffie, employs recent immigrant women with culinary skills to teach affordable, authentic, hands-on cooking classes, which builds social networks and job skills, provides income and offers a “real” experience for those interested
in learning to cook authentic cultural cuisine.

• Green Dirt, developed this fall by Adam Wizinsky, Alee Furman, and Alexis Dalzell provides a restaurant composting service that turns organic waste into rich fertilizer for local farms and gardens, for a fee comparable to or cheaper than regular disposal, reducing garbage flow by recycling into the local
ecosystem.

• Aspire, in development since January by Robbie Hsieh and Alice Chen, aims to provide employment opportunities in the software testing industry for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) by leveraging characteristics of the disorder for a competitive advantage.

• Healthy Homes, developed by Kelvin Kwok, Money Gill, and Samantha Paulson, seeks to provide a once stop clearing house of information for families dealing with loved ones that require palliative care, and services to assist families in caring for their dying loved ones in a caring home environment.

Beedie students and alumni from the ‘Abee Project’ (Jessica Kwee, Qudsia Ahmed, and Jasmin Bhandal), ‘Home Daycare’ (Rolando Fuentes Ruiz, Stanley Lai, and Dickson Wong), and ‘Home for the Heart’ (Jessica Fan, Peter Gao, Kenneth Lau and Tracy Wei) also qualified as finalists and delivered excellent presentations, though weren’t selected for grants at this time.

Smith’s students are encouraged to design a sustainable project at the start of class. Six are currently underway while three from the spring class continue.

Ashoka Canada, in partnership with SFU and UBC, found the top student changemakers at the November event. The two schools co-launched the Be A Changemaker Challenge, powered by Starbucks, to find the best student-led social initiatives coming out of Vancouver. The components of the Challenge are a bootcamp, which took place at SFU on Oct. 1st and the venture pitch selection panel.

The Be a Changemaker Challenge Selection Panel brought together six business and social entrepreneurs to select the winners. Panelists included: James Tansey (ISIS, UBC), Tom Lawrence (Beedie School of Business, SFU), John Nicola (Nicola Wealth Management & Ashoka Support Network Member), Shannon Vanderwoerd (Starbucks Canada), Elisha Muskat (Ashoka Canada) and Ashoka Fellow John Richardson (Party X, Pivot Legal Society).

Tags: Ashoka, CSR, new ventures, Shawn Smith, social innovation, sustainability, Tom Lawrence

The following was originally published in the North Shore Outlook newspaper on September 23, 2011.

By Maria Spitale-Leisk – North Shore Outlook
Published: November 23, 2011 12:00 PM
Updated: November 23, 2011 12:41 PM

Photo: North Van MBA student Alannah Cervenko chats to Vancouver Canucks players Robert Luongo and Sami Salo about her class project: developing a social media strategy for The Dugout, a DTES drop-in centre.

Hockey fever does not discriminate. To borrow a catchphrase from the Vancouver Canucks’ marketing campaign, “We are all Canucks”.

North Vancouver resident Alannah Cervenko caught the Canucks bug during the team’s 1994 Stanley Cup playoff run. A cardboard cutout of fan favourite Trevor Lindenwas a mainstay in her childhood bedroom.

It was a chronic condition that lasted throughout high school, university and her early 20s. The start of the 2010/2011 NHL season was when things crescendoed for Cervenko: her professional hockey player cousin Victor Oreskovich had just been traded to the Vancouver Canucks.

“I enjoyed watching him in the playoffs last season,” says Cervenko from her home in Lynn Valley. “It was very exciting for my family to have that connection to the Canucks.”

She has held onto a souvenir from Vancouver’s second close call at winning the Stanley Cup — the iconic white towel. The orca-stamped textile was displayed across a chair in her living room all summer.

Last week, when Cervenko was invited by a friend to a private “Cocktails with the Canucks” function in downtown Vancouver, she hastily grabbed her playoff towel on her way out the door not knowing what to expect of the event.

In the back of her mind, she had big plans for the white space on the towel. A Simon Fraser University MBA student, Cervenko needed some star power for a social media project.

The assignment: partner with a local non-profit and create a social media strategy with the objective of raising financial support or awareness for this organization. Cervenko and her group chose The Dugout — a drop-in centre on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside that hosts one of the longest-running Alcoholics Anonymous programs in Vancouver.

“The reason I thought about The Dugout was because in the 1970s and ’80s it would stay open late so that their clients could have a warm and safe place to watch the Canucks games,” says Cervenko. “But because of a lack of funding they don’t have the resources to stay open late anymore.”

Roberto Luongo and Sami Salo were the first Canucks she met at the function.

“Roberto gave me a big grin and they both introduced themselves,” she recalls.

Kevin Bieksa teased her about plugging a baseball-related organization to a bunch of hockey players. She gave him a history lesson, telling him the dugout was a Second World War reference. It was a safe haven for soldiers to take refuge from the enemy.

Cervenko says all of the Canucks she canvassed for signatures had never heard of the Downtown Eastside ‘Dugout’, but they were curious, asked questions and happily signed her towel.

“You consistently hear about how the Canucks are such a friendly, warm group of players and it could not be more true,” she says.

When Cervenko visited the The Dugout back on Nov. 8, by 7 a.m. there was already a line of people stretching around the block — and many cups of hot chicken-vegetable soup had already been served.

“It’s in a surprisingly nice area, on the outskirts of Gastown,” she says.

Developers wanted to buy the building that houses The Dugout, but the City of Vancouver thwarted their redevelopment plans by buying the property themselves and charging the tenants a nominal rent, she explains.

Many of the drop-in centre’s clients are either homeless or live in Single Room Occupancies on the Downtown Eastside. They share a community ‘living room’ at The Dugout where they can access social resources, emotional support or simply watch TV.

Cervenko hung out in the living room with some of the clients and talked to them about their lives.

“A few grew up on the North Shore and had a childhood very similar to mine,” she says. “These experiences make you realize how fortunate you are and how often people of different walks of life have more in common with you than you realize.”

When Cervenko first looked into The Dugout, she discovered they had no website or branding. She had to go to three different websites to find the address, telephone number and a description of their services. Today, The Dugout has their own online presence — a website and Facebook page built by Cervenko and her dad for the class project.

And anyone who makes a donation on the website (thedugoutvancouver.com) before Dec. 1 will have a chance to win that coveted autographed Canucks towel.

“Even five dollar helps,” says Cervenko. “Instead of getting a Starbucks coffee, give that money to The Dugout. That’s what I ask my friends.”

The project is worth 10 per cent of her final grade in her marketing class; however, Cervenko is confident that it has already taught her an invaluable life lesson about compassion.

reporter@northshoreoutlook.com

Tags: Alannah Cervenko, Canucks, downtown eastside, drop-in centre, Marketing, MBA student, North Shore Outlook, project, Robert Luongo, Sami Salo, social media, social media strategy, The Dugout, Vancouver

SFU’s Beedie School of Business hosted “A Candid Conversation with Walmart Canada about Sustainability” on Monday, November 21 at the Segal Graduate School of Business in downtown Vancouver. The event was co-sponsored by SFU Beedie’s CMA Centre for Strategic Change and Performance Measurement and SFU Beedie’s NetImpact Chapter.

A diverse and engaged audience — consisting of SFU MBAs and BBAs, plus students, faculty and industry professionals from across the Lower Mainland — joined the Beedie School to learn more about Walmart Canada’s latest sustainability initiatives. They also participated in a frank question and answer period afterwards about the company’s position on a number of sustainability-related areas – from supply chain management to organizational culture.

Andrew Telfer, Manager, Sustainability at Walmart Canada, provided an industry update on what Walmart is doing in the area of sustainability, answering questions from students and the SFU community. Telfer noted that Walmart Canada has three core sustainability goals: to be supplied 100% by renewable energy, to create zero waste, and to sell products that sustain people and the environment. And while he admitted there’s still a lot of work to be done, he pointed to many changes by the national retailer that are already underway.

Photo: Andrew Telfer, Manager, Sustainability at Walmart Canada, presents about Walmart Canada’s sustainability initiatives.

Sustainability, according to Telfer, contributes to Walmart Canada’s productivity loop – and the company will see $140 million savings over five years. The company also asserted its belief that sustainability shouldn’t be a competitive advantage, and how it collaborates with others on the return on investment (ROI) around sustainable business.

A number of specialized initiatives are asserting a culture of sustainability at the company. Walmart Canada’s My Sustainability Plan, for example, encourages associates to do more for sustainability. Meanwhile, the retailer has also launched the Walmart Green Business Summit and the website ShareGreen.ca – both devoted to collaboration around the ROI of sustainability.

“Our students are change makers and future leaders,” said Beedie Assistant Professor Stephanie Bertels. “Being able to engage in frank conversations helps them to see both the opportunities and challenges in implementing the sustainability agenda.  Andrew’s talk really highlighted that the solutions will be rooted in cross-industry collaborations.”

At the event, Telfer also encouraged students to get involved in Walmart Canada’s Green Student Challenge: sharegreen.ca/student

Tags: Andrew Telfer, BBA, Beedie, candid conversation, CMA Centre for Strategic Change, CMA Centre for Strategic Change and Performance Measurement, community, Green Student Challenge, initiatives, MBA, My Sustainability Plan, NetImpact, renewable energy, School of Business, Segal Graduate School, sfu, sustainability, Walmart Canada, Walmart Green Business Summit, zero waste

The founder of a burgeoning online instant gift card company is Simon Fraser University’s newest Student Entrepreneur of the Year.

Matias Marquez, an undergraduate student in the Beedie School of Business, took the honour at the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) annual competition held on Nov. 19. His company, Buyatab.com, Canada’s leading digital gift card processor is a “software-as-a-service” digital gift card processing technology that becomes embedded onto its customers’ websites.

According to Marquez, thousands of merchant locations across North America have signed up with Buyatab.com’s services, including major retailers and restaurants such as The Keg Steakhouse and Bar, Boston Pizza, Milestones, Swiss Chalet and others.

Marquez says earning the business of top companies took substantial effort. “You also have to love what you do; we’re where we are now because of our passion and hard work,” says Marquez, who makes personal visits to companies a top priority. He continues the travel and runs his downtown office while at the same time, striving to finish off final courses for his business degree.

Meanwhile the second place SEY winner is fellow Beedie undergraduate Arvand Alviri, founder of VenueWize, a web and mobile-based application created for event organizers.

It lets event organizers collaborate on events, access live guest information during their events (via iPhone and iPad apps), track guest profitability and stay green.

Both Beedie winners are also clients of SFU’s Venture Connection (VC), which has helped numerous student and recent alumni companies through various stages and phases of development.

Tags: Arvand Alviri, Beedie, Boston Pizza, Buyatab, competition, entrepreneurship, gift card, HiretheWorld, Matias Marquez, School of Business, sfu, Simon Fraser University, student, Student Entrepreneur of the Year, Students in Free Enterprise, Swiss Chalet, The Keg, undergraduate, Venture Connection, VenueWize

Vancouver Startup Weekend, sponsored by the Beedie School of Business and hosted at the Segal Graduate School in downtown Vancouver, brought together entrepreneurs from across the region to develop their business ideas from early-stage conceptualization to real-world viability.

A panel of local entrepreneurs and investors awarded first place to “My Best Helper” at the Vancouver Startup Weekend. “My Best Helper” is a web-based service that matches caregivers with people who need their services.  Nannies, babysitters, eldercare givers, and pet sitters are matched with clients based on their skills, interests, location and recommendations. The award was based on the product’s large addressable market, business case, and the fact that the idea was developed based on personal experience.

The team will go on to compete against winners from thirty-seven other cities in the Global Startup Battle. Winners of that event will take home an assortment of cash, prizes and some one-on-one time with a celebrity venture capitalist or angel investor.

The “My Best Helper” team includes:

Developers:

• Francois Deschenes – a web-application developer with 16 years of experience in the industry who loves nothing more than a challenge to bring both his creative thinking and rational perspective to the solution – download his iPhone app Phone Helper
• Peter Gao –currently doing a B.Sc at SFU, Producer and Programmer at Mr. Five Studios, Web Developer at MadRenegade
• Rauza Zhenissova – completing a B. Sc. UBC, has worked for on-line magazines
• Tom Ng –B.Sc. from SFU, implemented websites such as Whistlerblackcomb.com & Monttremblant.ca and intranet for TransLink and GoldCorp.

Designer:

• Estella Lum – Emily Carr University of Art + Design – Estella is an awarding-winning creative and brand strategist who is passionate about communicating the beauty of impact-focused brands to help them prosper. She is the founder of Possum Umbrellas.

Business:

• Alexandra T.  Greenhill – MD University of Montreal, family physician and mother of three, nationally recognized health care leader, received the Women’s Executive Network (WXN) Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada 2005 Award
• Cory LePage –graduated from BCIT – mechanical design engineering – Investor and Entrepreneur,  Business Development Consulting/Coaching,  Real Estate Investor and Coach
• Rob Attwell – BA University of Victoria, MBA from Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario, a serial entrepreneur, has extensive online media experience including a role as Director of Development for Stockgoup Media Inc. and consulting work for Associate Press AP Digital service

Second place went to “Bag Tag”, a social media based e-commerce solution, and third place to “Juke Nuke”, a product that allows users to vote up or down music selections played at a bar, café or other venue.

“We were extremely pleased to be part of bringing Startup Weekend to Vancouver,” said Kirk Hill, Assistant Dean, External Relations at the Beedie School of Business. “With 54 hours, people formed teams, hashed out ideas and built applications – one had even submitted it to the Apple ITunes Store. One of our key focuses as a school is to promote innovation, and bringing this global organization to Vancouver is just one of many ways we connect what happens in the classroom to the real world.”

About Startup Weekend Vancouver, November 18-20, 2011

Startup Weekend Vancouver, hosted by the Beedie School of Business, allowed entrepreneurs to discover if their startup ideas were viable through a 54 hour hands-on event. Startup Weekend’s attendees were composed of half with technical backgrounds and the rest with business backgrounds. Beginning with open-mic pitches on Friday, attendees brought their best ideas and inspired others to join their team. Over Saturday and Sunday, teams focused on customer development and idea validation while practicing LEAN Startup Methodologies and building a minimal viable product. On Sunday evening, teams demoed their prototypes and received valuable feedback from a panel of venture capitalist, entrepreneurs and academics.

See: http://www.tippett.me/ for more information on Vancouver and www.startupweekend.org for further background on the global organization.

Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University

The Beedie School of Business supports numerous programs around innovation including an undergraduate concentration in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, the Management of Technology MBA and the Ken Spencer Incubator.  The school was one of the founding partners in New Ventures BC and is proud to be the Platinum and host Sponsor for Startup Weekend Vancouver.

Tags: Beedie, business, designers, developers, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, innovation, Kirk Hill, My Best Helper, New Ventures BC, School of Business, startup, Startup Weekend, Vancouver, weekend

The following article was originally published in the November/December issue of BizEd Magazine, the leading voice of business education, published by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). The magazine is celebrating its 10th anniversary this fall.

Today, smartphone and tablet usage among business students is almost a given. To reach students where they live—on their mobile devices— more business schools are launching their own mobile campus applications. But as with any school initiative, designing a great institutional app takes careful consideration. Educators should be mindful of several steps and possibilities as they tackle the process:

Choosing objectives. Successful mobile campus apps serve a triple function—they build community, expand awareness of the school, and keep people informed. But they must do so without bombarding users with unneeded information. For that reason, business schools are defining their intended audience, choosing features, and outlining their objectives carefully before they jump into an app’s design. In that way, they can ensure that users find their apps interesting and valuable.

Photo: The Beedle School distributed promotional T-shirts that promoted its new campus mobile app as part of a student engagement contest. Each shirt has a QR code on the back that, when scanned with a mobile phone, takes the user to information about the app.

“We didn’t want to replicate or redeliver information that is already offered by other apps,” says Derek Moscato, director of communications for Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. “We didn’t want our app to be an overt recruitment tool, such as a digital brochure.”

Columbia Business School in New York, New York, released its iPhone app this summer, after taking six months to refine, test, and deploy it. Its goal for the tool was to help make students’ academic experiences as positive as possible. The app that resulted includes What’s App-enin’ At B-Schools searchable directories, campus maps, and details on campus events, club activities, and course listings. It also allows students to gather course assignments and materials in one place and receive campus safety alerts.

ESCP Europe wanted its iPhone app to connect its five campuses in Paris, France; London, England; Madrid, Spain; Berlin, Germany; and Torino, Italy. “We wanted the application to speak not only to students and alumni, but also to people interested in our conferences and the expertise of our professors,” says Hélène Allaire, the school’s events and social media manager. ESCP Europe’s app includes news, a monthly calendar of events, a course portfolio, information about faculty and research, locations of its campuses and partner universities, and a photo gallery. Students also can use the app to join the school’s online communities on various social media networks.

This summer, Hult International Business School, with campuses in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, released Hult Connect, a free mobile app for Apple devices that specifically targets Hult’s alumni network. Hult Connect allows former students to find other alums who live and work in their cities, so they can maintain relationships more easily. The business school can use the app to send news about alumni events and reunions.

Teaching with apps. The design of a school’s app also can offer an educational experience for students. That was the case for the Beedie School. A team of five SFU computer science and business students created Beedie’s app as a 13-week project for an interdisciplinary course, “Foundations of Innovation” in 2010.

Jan Kietzmann, who teaches the course, planned to make iPhone app design a general focus for the course. But he says it was a “natural progression” to shift the focus to creating a Beedie School app. The team was guided in the project by Kietzmann; Moscato; Dan Shapiro, the dean; and Andrew Gemino, associate dean of undergraduate programs and associate professor of management information systems. After the course ended, Moscato continued to work with the students to perfect the app before its release five months later in spring 2011.

“Although the project was introduced to the students from ‘up top,’ the students really loved the idea and took it upon themselves to identify where and how an app could help improve their lives as students,” says Kietzmann.

The students decided that the Beedie School app should be an information hub. They wanted it to integrate the school’s Twitter and Facebook feeds with links to announcements about current research from school faculty and graduate students, says Justin Lee, a member of the student team.

Getting the word out. How well a school promotes its app is almost as important as how well the app is designed. These schools let their communities know about the app via publications, electronic newsletters, and Web sites, as well as at school events and student orientations. But they also emphasize that because word-of-mouth is so important, more creative approaches may be in order.

For example, it was a student working as an intern in the Beedie School’s marketing and communications office who suggested launching a student-directed campaign, says Moscato. The office acted on her advice, distributing promotional T-shirts with QR codes for the app as part of a student engagement contest. It also created postcards featuring the app and handed them out to incoming freshmen at the beginning of the school year.

Refining designs. ESCP Europe views its first campus app as a work in progress, says Allaire. She has included her contact information at the bottom of the ESCP Europe app’s download page with a note asking for feedback. She already is making adjustments for the app’s next version. Moscato uses Google Analytics to track how many users download Beedie’s app. Since its launch in early June through August, it had received 9,500 page views. He plans to track how students use the app to inform the design of future iterations.

A school might be tempted to pack its first app with as many elements as possible. But overloading an app with bells and whistles that students might not use could decrease its functionality and impact, says Glenn Wiebalck, associate director of technology operations, information and technology group, and interim CIO at Columbia. “Don’t try to do too much initially,” he advises. Instead, start with a few features that students say they want most—and then test, test, test to make sure those features work flawlessly before full deployment. That approach, says Wiebalck, is “how you’ll gain momentum for future releases.”

Tags: apps, awareness, Beedie, campaign, codes, iPhone, management information systems, Marketing, mobile, QR, Salina, School of Business, sfu, Siu, social media, student engagement, student recruitment, t-shirt, undergraduate

(Vancouver) November 11, 2011 – Ashoka Canada, in partnership with the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University, will find the top student changemakers at the end of this month. The two schools co-launched the Be A Changemaker Challenge, powered by Starbucks, to find the best student-led social initiatives coming out of Vancouver. The components of the Challenge are a bootcamp, which took place at SFU on Oct. 1^st and a venture pitch selection panel, which will take place at UBC on Nov. 23^rd.

On Oct. 1^st, about 70 students attended the Be A Changemaker Bootcamp, delivered by Ashoka Canada and Ashoka’s Youth Venture and powered by Starbucks, UBC and SFU. The student changemakers gathered for this daylong training to learn how to build and fund their sustainable social ventures that they will subsequently launch, lead, and implement in their communities.

UBC and SFU student changemakers submitted their social venture action plans last week and after careful screening, representatives of Ashoka, UBC and SFU chose the following 10 teams of finalists (in no particular order): Polite No Longer – David Cameron, Paulina Lipska, Ekat Dovjenko (UBC), Home Daycare – Rolando Fuentes Ruiz, Dickson Wong, Stanley Lai (SFU), Home for the Heart – Jessica Fan, Tracy Wei, Kenneth Lau, Peter Gao (SFU), Aspire - Alice Chen, Robbie Hsieh (SFU), Healthy Homes - Kelvin Kwok, Samantha Paulson, Money Gill (SFU), Fusion Kitchen - Chantelle Buffie, Sonam Swarup (SFU), Green Dirt - Adam Wizinsky, Alexis Dalzell, Alee Furman (SFU), Abee Project - Qudsia Ahmed, Jessica Kwee, Jasmin Bhandal (SFU), SFU Bags for Kolkata Women’s Empowerment - Lindsay Belvedere,  Christine Lukac, Martyna Purchla, Silvia Mora, Alex Hayer, Bar Lianado (SFU) and Nyumbani Social Enterprises - Matt Whiteman and team (UBC)

The finalists will pitch their ideas at the selection panel on Nov. 23^rd and have the chance to win $1,000 of seed funding to launch their ventures. Up to 10 teams will be eligible for up to $1,000 each in seed funding to launch their social ventures, in addition to incubation support through Ashoka Canada and Ashoka’s Youth Venture.

The Be a Changemaker Challenge Selection Panel will bring together six business and social entrepreneurs who will select the winners. Panelists include: James Tansey (ISIS, Sauder School of Business, UBC), Tom Lawrence (Beedie School of Business, SFU), John Nicola (Nicola Wealth Management & Ashoka Support Network Member), Shannon Vanderwoerd (Starbucks Canada), Elisha Muskat (Ashoka Canada) and Ashoka Fellow John Richardson (Party X, Pivot Legal Society).

WHAT: The Be A Changemaker Challenge
WHEN: November 23, 2011 – Panel: 6-8 p.m. and Networking & Winners Announced: 8-9 p.m.
WHERE: Robson Square, Theatre (C300), 800 Robson Street, Vancouver
RSVP: http://beachangemakerpanel.eventbrite.com

Be a Changemaker Challenge – Overview

This exciting opportunity is delivered by Ashoka Canada and Ashoka’s Youth Venture, hosted by University of British Columbia (UBC) & Simon Fraser University (SFU) and powered by Starbucks, with the vision to enhance the social entrepreneurship experiences of all students.
This challenge consists of:

• University-wide call to action across the SFU & UBC campuses for students to create, launch and sustain social ventures.
• Action plan development by students with resources such as, a user-driven online learning platform, staff support, and mentorship.
• Selection of up to 10 teams for the seed funding of $1,000 at the Be a Changemaker Challenge Panel
• Ongoing post-launch support and fellowship for students’ social ventures as well as changemaker skills development and leadership with a global movement of 100,000+ Changemakers in the global Youth Venture network

About Ashoka’s Youth Venture

Ashoka’s Youth Venture® leads an international community of young people who are powerful now, changemakers now. Ashoka’s Youth Venture inspires and invests in teams of young people to create and launch their own sustainable, community-benefiting Ventures.  Ashoka’s Youth Venture then connects them into a global movement of young changemakers who are together redefining the youth years as a time of leadership and positive social change. This is the foundation of an Everyone a Changemaker™ world – the key factor for success in every part of society. Ashoka’s Youth Venture currently operates in 17 countries and online at www.GenV.net

About Ashoka

Ashoka is the global association of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs – individuals with system-changing solutions for the world’s most urgent social problems. We are redefining the global citizen sector by creating a system of collaborative entrepreneurship. Connecting the work of individual social entrepreneurs to business, academic and public sector partners, we create a network effect driving the sector forward and developing new solutions to global problems.

To date, we have elected more than 2,700 social entrepreneurs as Ashoka Fellows, in 72 countries in five continents. Across Canada, we have elected 40 Fellows since 2002. By working with our network, we have identified the key principles of transformation. We are working with business entrepreneurs, corporations, government agencies and universities to create a new reality. For more information, visit www.canada.ashoka.org

For more information please contact:

Claudia De Simone
Ashoka Canada
Program Director
Venture, Fellowship and University Partnerships
416-646-2333
cdesimone@ashoka.org

Tags: action plan development, Ashoka Canada, Ashoka's Youth Venture, Beedie, challenge, changemaker, community, entrepreneurs, Leadership, networking, School of Business, sfu, skills development, social entrepreneurs, social initiatives, social venture, student-led, students, sustainability, UBC