Banner win for SIFE students in Calgary
Mar 15, 2011
Contact:
Kyle Krystalowich, 604.961.6740; president@sifesimonfraser.com
Marianne Meadahl, PAMR, 778.782.3210;marianne_meadahl@sfu.ca
March 15, 2011
A Simon Fraser University student team has clinched top honors in a regional competition with their presentation of a project that finds new life for old banners.
The team, from SFU’s Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) group, was selected winner of the Scotiabank & SIFE Go Green Challenge at the Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE) competition in Calgary March 14.
The win entitles the students to participate in the national competition in Toronto May 9-11. They’ll be joined by Jordan Gutierrez, CEO of librerialeo.com.mx and a fourth-year economics student at SFU, one of two Western Canadian students to move into the national finals of ACE’s student entrepreneur competition.
Gutierrez is founder of the world’s largest online Spanish-language medical bookstore to serve rural doctors in his native Mexico. He was earlier chosen as SFU’s 2010 Student Entrepreneur of the Year.
The Banner Bags project puts high school students to work turning donated street banners into reusable bags – and teaches them about environmental sustainability in the process.
Presenting students Manisha Narula and Sonam Swarup shared how the project has so far involved 710 students and 20 schools throughout Metro Vancouver, Vernon and even Ottawa.
The students were able to reuse nearly 450 banners worth more than $30,000. “That meant more than 1,100 pounds of nylon saved from going to the landfill, saving over 27,000 pounds of CO2 emissions,” says Narula.
As part of the Go Green challenge the students also presented their New Leaf program, which gives Grade 7 students an opportunity to create community action plans and express their views on environmental sustainability through an online magazine.
SIFE students were also runners up in the TD SIFE Entrepreneurship Challenge and second runners up in the SIFE Financial Education Challenge.
SFU teams competed against 13 other SIFE teams from Western Canada. For a complete list of winners see: http://www.acecanada.ca/news/newsItem.cfm?cms_news_id=476
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