Beedie School of Business News

An innovative process to create pallets from recycled car tires, an online community for people with disabilities, and locally sourced prepackaged meals were just some of the innovative business ventures showcased by Beedie undergraduates at the 2013 Opportunity Fest.

The annual marketplace-style showcase of student creativity was held on March 26 at SFU’s Surrey campus. The event allowed participating students to demonstrate their business creativity by tackling perceived challenges through entrepreneurship and innovation.

For the past few years, guest judges from industry, academia, and the wider community have evaluated the participating teams’ endeavors and awarded prizes to students enrolled in the Entrepreneurship and Innovation concentration. Opportunity Fest 2013 welcomed judges from a wide variety of organizations, including Make, Global Agents for Change, BC Technology Industry Association, the City of Surrey, Central City Brewing, Ayoudo, Vancity, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Indel Therapeutics, and TD Commercial Banking.   Keep reading…

Tags: Beedie School of Business, Casey Dorin, entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, innovation, Innovation Office, interdisciplinary collaboration, Opportunity Fest, SFU Surrey, Simon Fraser University, Student Entrepreneur of the Year

The Executive MBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business has been selected to BC Business Magazine’s list of British Columbia’s most innovative companies.

Launched in 2012, the EMBA program is the first graduate business degree of its kind in Canada.

“B.C.’s aboriginal business community has a big stake in the province’s economic future,” notes BC Business Magazine in its April 2013 issue in referring to SFU’s newest EMBA cohort. “The program (has) attracted business leaders, administrators and senior officials as students, including Squamish Nation Chief Ian Campbell, and former mayor of West Vancouver, Pam Goldsmith-Jones.

BC Business Magazine’s annual list recognizes the top 20 organizations in the province that have used an innovative idea to build a company and redefine an industry. Keep reading…

Tags: Aboriginal busi­ness opportunities, Andrew Petter, award, BC Business, BC Business Magazine, Beedie School of Business, Executive MBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership, First Nations, Ian Campbell, innovation, Pam Goldsmith-Jones, Simon Fraser University

Mike Waites, CEO of Finning being interviewed at the Beedie School of Business by CKNW host Bill Good.

The head of the world’s largest Caterpillar dealer and a global provider of industrial equipment took centre-stage at the CKNW CEO Series held on March 27 at Simon Fraser University’s Segal Graduate School in downtown Vancouver.

Mike Waites, who was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Finning International in May of 2008, engaged in a wide-ranging discussion about international business and Canada’s economic prospects with CKNW host Bill Good in front a large audience of Beedie students, alumni and faculty as well as business leaders.

For over 80 years, Finning has provided parts and service for equipment and engines to customers in mining, construction, power systems, forestry and other industrial markets. 

The Vancouver-based company employs over 15,000 people world-wide with operations in Europe, South America and North America. Keep reading…

Tags: Beedie Schoo of Business, Bill Good, CKNW, CKNW News Talk 980, Finning International, innovation, investment, Leadership, management, Mike Waites, Segal Graduate School, Simon Fraser University, The Chief Executive, Vanity Fair

The following article was published by BC Business
on March 27, 2013.
by Jacob Parry

B.C.’s aboriginal business community has a big stake in the province’s economic future. Treaty agreements, renewed autonomy over aboriginal land and increased control over health and social services have been game-changers for bands and First Nations across B.C. But future opportunities are still tied to present challenges, and big questions. Can business priorities reconcile with indigenous world views? And how can aboriginal business overcome the financial limitations and economic disadvantages embedded in the Indian Act and inherited from a history of colonization?

The Executive MBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership at SFU’s Beedie School of Business is tackling these challenges head on. Launched last September, the program attracted business leaders, administrators and senior officials as students, including Squamish Nation Chief Ian Campbell, and former mayor of West Vancouver, Pam Goldsmith-Jones.

Semesters are divided into tight, two-week sessions at SFU’s downtown campus, allowing the participants to ferry between the Lower Mainland and their full-time jobs, with some participants travelling from as far away as the Yukon.

According to program director Mark Selman, 80 per cent of the content is the same as the regular EMBA. The difference? Addressing the role of indigenous knowledge in the boardroom, and the accounting for unique policy and governance issues that aboriginal enterprises face.

“We look at standard business models like Apple, but we get to a point where that won’t work in our communities, so then we have to make it applicable within our world,” explains Tamara Goddard, a student in the program’s inaugural semester and the founder and CEO of Blue Habitats Distribution Ltd., a manufacturer of eco-friendly building supplies.

Six months in, the program is a pilot for First Nations professional training, and has provoked conversations about aboriginal commerce and economic development. Teck Resources Ltd., a financial supporter of the program along with Vancity, started hiring students two months in. Selman says other Canadian universities are interested in developing a similar program.

“The education goes two ways,” says Goddard. In tackling issues from climate change to urban poverty, “learning from other cultures that have a different way of approaching business is what we need.”

Tags: Aboriginal EMBA, BC Business, EMBA, Executive MBA in Aboriginal Business and Leadership, innovation

Margot Micallef, founder and president of investment firm Oliver Capital Partners being interviewed at the Beedie School of Business by CKNW host Bill Good.

The spring series of CKNW 980’s “The Chief Executives” continued as Margot Micallef, founder and president of investment firm Oliver Capital Partners, answered CKNW host Bill Good’s questions on business and leadership in front of a live audience at the Segal Graduate School.

The event was part of an ongoing partnership between the Beedie School of Business and prominent Vancouver radio station CKNW News Talk 980 to bring leadership and business insights from some of Canada’s top executives to SFU’s downtown Vancouver campus.

After an introduction which listed just a few of the highlights from Micallef’s impressive résumé, including overseeing the recent opening of Subway restaurant’s 400^th location in BC, Good remarked that when he first read her bio he thought to himself that there was no way this was just one person, as her accomplishments were too numerous. Keep reading…

Tags: Beedie School of Business, Bill Good, CKNW, CKNW News Talk 980, entrepreneurship, Finning International, innovation, investment, Leadership, management, Margot Micallef, Mike Waites, negotiation, Oliver Capital Partners, psychology, Segal Graduate School, Simon Fraser University, Subway Devco, Subway restaurants, The Chief Executives, Vanity Fair, Vista Radio

Opportunity Fest 2012

The Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University will next week host the third annual Opportunity Fest, a marketplace-style showcase of student creativity aimed at seizing new opportunities and addressing perceived challenges through entrepreneurship and innovation.

Opportunity Fest 2013 will be held from 6 to 9pm on Tuesday, March 26 at the mezzanine of the SFU Surrey campus. The event is open to all, with current and prospective students from all faculties, university personnel and other community members encouraged to come and see what the next generation of entrepreneurs has in store.

Building on the success of last year’s event, around 150 Beedie undergraduate students from the Entrepreneurship and Innovation concentration will present their class-produced projects and ventures through trade-show exhibits. The student ventures build on opportunities in areas such as video-hosting, online Chinese literature and products made from reclaimed wood. Keep reading…

Tags: BBA, Dragon's Den, entrepreneurship, Eric Gedajlovic, innovation, Michael Cheng, Mr. and Ms. Opportunity, Opportunity Fest, SEY, SFU Surrey, social entrepreneurship, social venture, Student Entrepreneur of the Year, sustainability, undergraduate

Warren Roy (left), founder and CEO of Vancouver tech firm Global Relay being interviewed at the Beedie School of Business by CKNW host Bill Good.

Warren Roy, founder and CEO of Vancouver tech firm Global Relay, started off the 2013 series of CKNW 980’s “The Chief Executives”, answering radio host Bill Good’s questions in front of a live audience at the Segal Graduate School.

The event was the result of an ongoing partnership between the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University and prominent Vancouver radio station CKNW News Talk 980 to bring leadership and business insights from some of Canada’s top executives to SFU.

Good opened the interview by asking Roy how he got started, drawing the CEO back to his childhood, and his first job. Describing himself as a lifelong entrepreneur, Roy recounted that his earliest dreams revolved around construction; as a child he liked building things, moving from childhood Lego sets to spending time on construction sites. He started his first company, designing and building homes, in 1983. Keep reading…

Tags: Beedie School of Business, Bill Good, Chicago Stock Exchange, CKNW, CKNW News Talk 980, community, construction, employee retention, entrepreneurship, financial industry, financial services, Gastown Grand Prix, Global Relay, innovation, management, Segal Graduate School, The Chief Executives, Warren Roy

The following article was published by the Globe and Mail on March 12.

Elicia Maine, Academic Director of the Management of Technology MBA program discussing bio nano research with collaborators V.J. Thomas and Armstrong Murira
Photo credit: Barry Shell

Nanotechnology (the manipulation of matter on a molecular or smaller scale) and biotechnology (the manipulation of living matter) are both hot fields of innovation. Combine the two, and you have a whole new business sector, according to a new study led by a Simon Fraser University researcher.

From stem cell medicine to biological computers, this combination is a rich breeding ground for new ventures, says lead study author, Elicia Maine, academic director of the management technology MBA program at the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University. The study, done in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of New South Wales, is called Global Bio-Nano Firms: Exploiting the Confluence of Technologies. It identified, classified and analyzed more than 500 of the world’s first companies in the emerging bio-nano sector.

The study found that, between 2005 and 2011, the number of bio-nano firms nearly doubled to 507, with more than 100 of them emerging in North America, according to Simon Fraser University. Keep reading…

Tags: AT&T, Beedie School of Business, biotechnology, Elicia Maine, Globe and Mail, innovation, Management of Technology MBA, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MBA, MOT MBA, Nanosphere, nanotechnology, Simon Fraser University, stem cell, University of New South Wales

A new study by the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University makes the case for mentored entrepreneurial competition as a means to contributing to the British Columbia economy. The research report, entitled “New Ventures BC Economic Impact and Entrepreneurial Research Impact”, was co-authored by Beedie Professors Elicia Maine and Pek-Hooi Soh, and Beedie MBA alumnus Lee O’Donnell.

To date, more than 1,400 aspiring B.C. entrepreneurs have entered the competition, with 36 winning major prize packages. Most winners have continued on to form viable companies and to create jobs for British Columbians. The prizes issued by NVBC are intended to grow the most promising early-stage ideas into successful companies. Most importantly, new technology entrepreneurs are created through the educational, mentoring, and entrepreneurship bootcamp stages of the competition: these budding entrepreneurs are expected to facilitate innovation in the province for decades to come. Keep reading…

Tags: AirG, BCIC-New Ventures competition, Beedie School of Business, Ben Sparrow, British Columbia Innovation Council, economic impact, Elicia Maine, Hiretheworld.com, innovation, Joshua Zoshi, Layerboom, Lee O'Donnell, Mike Volker, New Ventures BC Society, Pek-Hooi Soh, Research, Saltworks, Simon Fraser University

The Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University has announced the appointment of Nelson Lah, Partner and Director of leading IT and business process services provider CGI, as Chair of the Business Technology Management (BTM) Advisory Board.

Lah has a history of strategic leadership, innovative approaches, mentorship, and community-university service. Before joining CGI, he worked as Chief Technology Officer and Executive Director at the BC Ministry of Citizens’ Services.

The BTM certificate is aimed at providing students with skills in technology and business which enable them to design, implement and lead changes necessary for progressive organizations.

Upon completion of the BTM certificate, SFU graduates join an elite group of business professionals supported by a national coalition of employers.

Along with developing interpersonal communications, collaboration, and leadership skills, BTM students learn to analyze business processes, design appropriate technology-based solutions and lead projects.

Lah replaces outgoing chair Lauren Goebel, whose contributions to the BTM program are sincerely appreciated.

For more information about the BTM Certificate, visit http://beedie.sfu.ca/btm/about/.

Tags: Beedie School of Business, BTM, BTM Certificate, Business Technology Management, Certificate in Business Technology Management, CGI, innovation, Mentorship, Nelson Lah, Simon Fraser University