Beedie School of Business News

Students and alumni from the Beedie School of Business will put their business development skills to the test as they compete for $5000 of cash prizes in the annual Coast Capital Savings Venture Prize Competition.

The Beedie School of Business will once again be strongly represented in the competition, which is open to the public and will be held from 2 – 5pm on February 13 in room 4600 of the Segal Graduate School, with Beedie students and alumni comprising three of the five finalist places.

Hosted by SFU’s Venture Connection, the Coast Capital Savings Venture Prize Competition rewards excellence in business development among early-stage clients participating in the Venture Connection incubator program.

The finalists will be assessed by a guest panel of judges based on their business progress and participation within Venture Connection’s mentoring and other activities. The top three competitors will be awarded a share of the $5000 prize fund. Keep reading…

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A new mobile phone platform being co-created by Simon Fraser MBA alumna Bella Hwang has been recognized as an emerging company in the 2012 Ready to Rocket list.

The Ready to Rocket list is a unique business recognition list that profiles British Columbia technology companies with the greatest potential for revenue growth.

Hwang’s company, Texts 4 Health, helps health organizations use their resources more efficiently via mobile phone technology to provide better care for patients. Patients respond to automated text messages that are automatically categorized by the software and analytics platform, increasing efficiency in hospitals and clinics and allowing for greater patient load.

Hwang, who recently completed her MBA at the Beedie School of Business, co-founded the venture with Jesse Coleman, former mHealth project manager at the BC Centre for Disease Control.

“We’re excited about launching Texts 4 Health and the diversity of the SFU MBA program has helped equip me with the knowledge to couple my passions of healthcare and social entrepreneurship,” says Hwang. Keep reading…

Tags: Beedie School of Business, Bella Hwang, Flickr, MBA, Ready to Rocket, sfu, Texts 4 Health

A new mobile phone platform co-created by a Simon Fraser University MBA alumna is helping health organizations use their resources more efficiently.

Texts 4 Health can also help health care professionals provide better care.  Patients respond to automated text messages that are automatically categorized by the software and analytics platform, increasing efficiency in hospitals and clinics and allowing for greater patient load.

The technology recently won first place at SFU Venture Connection’s inaugural Coast Capital Savings Venture Prize competition.

“Winning this prize really helps validate our concept and provides useful feedback during this early-stage of our business,” says SFU Beedie School of Business grad Bella Hwang, who recently completed her MBA and co-founded the venture with Jesse Coleman, health project manager at the BC Centre for Disease Control.

Hwang has worked with start-up non-profit and private health clinics and developed public health promotion programs in Canada and developing countries. She also served as executive director of the Shanti Uganda Society, an NGO focused on women’s health and community development in Uganda.

Other Venture Prize winners from the Beedie School of Business include second-place VenueWize, a wireless events system that enables event organizers to capture analytics, measure team performance and build their guest database, created by student Arvand Alviri.

Third-place Ads on Naps specializes in printing and distributing high definition advertisements on high quality napkins, including QR codes directing users to online ad offers and websites, created by students Jag Manhas, Philip Chow and Raymond Dich. The winners shared $5,000 in prize fund.

The competition jury included Beedie student Milun Tesovic, founder of MetroLyrics.com, as well as representatives from program partner Coast Capital Savings, the SFU Innovation Office, and industry entrepreneurs.

Tags: Ads on Naps, ag Manhas, Arvand Alviri, Bella Hwang, Coast Capital Savings, Jesse Coleman, MBA, MetroLyrics, Milun Tesovic, Philip Chow, Raymond Dich, SFU Innovation Office, Texts 4 Health, VenueWize

by Joanne Leung

Both students and alumni from SFU’s Beedie School of Business have been selected to compete on February 11 for $5000 in cash prizes at the upcoming Coast Capital Savings Venture Prize Competition, which will take place at the Segal Graduate School of Business in downtown Vancouver.

The start-up competition is organized by SFU Venture Connection, recognizing excellence in business development among early-stage clients participating in the VentureSpark program.

Of the seven finalists—the list was narrowed down from an initial 17 applications—four are from Beedie:

• Texts 4 Health, Bella Hwang (MBA 2011)
• VenueWize, Arvand Alviri (BBA 2011)
• Winsphere, Gordon Swenson (BBA student)
• New Heights Creative (Adsonnaps), Raymond Dich (BBA 2008)

Among the jury panel for the competition will be Beedie student Milun Tesovic, co-founder of MetroLyrics.com—the most comprehensive database of music lyrics in the world that was recently integrated into CBS Interactive Music Group. He will also be the keynote speaker at the reception. In 2008, Tesovic’s MetroLeap Media Inc. — co-founded with EMBA alumnus Alan Juristovski — was the inaugural client in Venture Connection’s early-stage incubator, VentureLabs, and Tesovic continues to be an active supporter of SFU Venture Connection and the Beedie School of Business.

For more information about the Coast Capital Savings Venture Prize, visit http://ventureconnection.sfu.ca/index.php?/learn/coast_capital_savings_venture_prize_competition

To attend the SFU Venture Prize reception, please register at http://sfuventureprize.eventbrite.com

About Venture Connection

SFU Venture Connection provides support for student ventures from initial idea to business validation through provision of an early-stage business accelerator, mentorship, co-op terms, competitions, networking, speaker events, workshops & seminars, and other business resources.  Over 1800 students have participated since 2009 in its range of programs, with development services provided to over 175 student venture teams.  For more information, visit http://ventureconnection.sfu.ca

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