A key mandate of the Pierre L. Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship is to connect students with entrepreneurs, not only to expose students to owners engaged in managing and growing their organizations but also to showcase Ivey’s forward-thinking students who are generating new and innovative ideas through their program studies and business plan competitions.
An Ivey Entrepreneur in Residence is a person who has an outstanding track record either as an entrepreneur or involved in a start up. The EIR shares their expertise and exceptional knowledge with HBA and MBA students within the entrepreneurship programs at Ivey. Students gain real life knowledge from meeting and discussion on developing the students business plan. Through one-on-one coaching, the EIR consults with students in the New Venture Project (NVP) at Ivey. The NVP provides teams of four to five students develop a thorough business plan ready to take to market.
The EIR will come to Ivey campus to meet with students once in the fall term and at least once in the winter term. During this time on campus the EIR may be asked to speak to the students on their area of expertise for the Entrepreneurship club.
As well, the EIR will make themselves available to meet over the phone virtually. An EIR will work with NVP teams (depending on their availability). For the HBA group, EIR would receive the early-version of the students business plan in the fall and meet (in person if able) with the team to provide feedback, suggestions, ideas about soft-spots, areas of concern, etc.
A second meeting scheduled for early January, which is the halfway mark, so the EIR can gauge progress. Finally, there would be a face-to-face meeting at the presentation of the NVP where the EIR provides final comments and input.
Timeline HBA student teams November – December: EIR receive information on students business ideas as well as a power point slide deck on the business plan, initial stage EIR work with the business plan/idea that is the best fit for their expertise
January – meet with the students to gauge progress on business plan as the final plan is due mid February
March – Students pitch their New Venture Project to a panel of EIR for comments Contact Information
If you would like to participate as an Entrepreneur in Residence, or if you would like more information about this or other entrepreneurial initiatives provided by the Pierre L Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship, please contact:
Tara Grzegorczyk, Initiative Coordinator
Phone: 519.661.2111 Ext. 85409
E-mail: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)