SFU Beedie students among Surrey’s Top 25 Under 25 for 2019

SFU Beedie students among Surrey’s Top 25 Under 25 award recipients for 2019

SFU’s Beedie School of Business was once again well represented at the Surrey Board of Trade’s annual Top 25 Under 25 Awards for 2019, with eight SFU Beedie students or alumni appearing on the list.

The award winners were honoured at an event, held on April 24, celebrating remarkable initiatives taken by young people in Surrey, who are 25 years of age or younger. The 25 winners were chosen based upon their business or community achievements, leadership ability, community involvement, professional achievements and uniqueness of their business or community projects.

The Beedie students and alumni named in the list were:

Khayla Almonte-Davila, a business alumna and co-founder of REACH, a digital platform that houses resources for private sponsors equipping them to help their sponsored refugee families. This led to her involvement with RADIUS Refugee Livelihood Lab and later to the creation and management of the RADIUS internship program, matching SFU Co-op and First Nations Technology Council students with entrepreneurs. Khayla is also the recipient of the honorary Health & Safety in the Workplace Award;

Hajira Khan, founder of Creatorly, a creative marketing company, and EmpowHer, a platform and event label that brings women in business together. She is also the lead organizer of BeautyCon SFU in partnership with Shoppers Drug Mart Canada, raising money for the Canadian Cancer Society and the Surrey Hospital Foundation;

Summin Dinsa, co-founder of the LUMEN Society, a non-profit organization that supports people impacted by chronic health conditions. LUMEN’s goal is to change society’s perception of invisible illness by offering support and funding scholarships for high school graduates suffering from these illnesses. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business from SFU and has participated in SFU’s study abroad program;

Shilpa Lakshmy, Enactus SFU’s president, is involved in a number of initiatives to create social, economic and environmental impact in the local community. She currently leads a team of 15 individuals in one of Enactus’ social enterprises, Coast Cards, selling eco-friendly greeting cards. Through Coast Cards, Shilpa also helps provide transitional employment to marginalized individuals by creating partnerships with recovery centres to facilitate skill-building in a creative setting;

Ravneet Randhawa, current project manager of the Enactus SFU initiative Count on Me, a hands-on program that teaches at-risk youth the fundamentals of financial literacy, employability skills, and healthy eating. In her role, she created partnership with three school districts, oversaw the accreditation of the curriculum by G&F Financial Group and has expanded the program to be taught in high school classrooms, working with over 350 youth;

Tanraj Sohal, an ambassador with Canadian Eyesight Global, organizes free eye care camps in various community centres and temples in Surrey. Concerned with global blindness, the organization has helped hundreds of British Columbians to preserve their vision by early diagnosis of preventable eye diseases that cause loss of vision. In his final year at SFU, Tanraj is also a chess coach and player competing for Team B.C. in the Canadian Chess Challenge;

Branden Sorbo, vice president of external relations and finance with Enactus SFU, has brought on several new community partners and gathered more than $15,000 in grants and sponsorships for the organization. His efforts directly support the events and operations of the many Enactus initiatives which allows them to continue their positive impacts on the community;

Peyton Winslade, external manager of Media Minds at Enactus SFU, a program that provides workshops to integrate students into their community through the use of film education. Involved in a number of case competitions, including CaseIt, hosted by SFU, she has represented the university internationally as a competitor in Serbia, and nationally, with her team taking first place at the Inter-Collegiate Business Competition in the marketing event.