Student Activities
- Innovation Challenge
- New Venture Project
- IBK Capital Business Plan Competition
- Entrepreneurship Club
- LEADER Project
Innovation Challenge
Every year, Certificate in Entrepreneurship students are assigned the challenge of developing and launching a successful new venture within a time frame of just two weeks and a capital investment of just $5. The 2009 Innovation Challenge was won by Clarke Markle, Chris Petrow, Matt Montemurro, Chris Stefanyk, and Tim Warmels who created a profitable varsity sports package, which included UWO football, hockey and baseball tickets, as well as a Western Athletics t-shirt.
See a full set of Innovation Challenge pictures here.
Ivey New Venture Project
The Ivey New Venture Project (NVP) is an entrepreneurial, team-based field project that takes students through the process of developing/refining an idea for a new venture, researching and analyzing that opportunity, writing a detailed and compelling Business Plan and creating/presenting a “Business Plan Pitch” to an external review panel.
NVP provides students with the opportunity to apply their business knowledge to the identification and development of a commercial enterprise and to test and refine their concept through participation in entrepreneurial skill-building classes, high profile business plan competitions and coaching sessions with Ivey faculty and established Entrepreneurs-in-Residence. NVP culminates with the submission of a written plan and a live ‘pitch’ to an external venture review panel.
Participation in NVP is based on submission of a competitive application which is evaluated on the merits of creativity and innovation, clarity of the value proposition, engagement and passion of team members, and ability to move the idea forward.
NVP Final Presentation Dates:
March 5, 2010 - Spring MBA/AMBA
March 26, 2010 - HBA
May 28, 2010 - Fall MBA
See more information at the Ivey New Venture Project official homepage here or e-mail Tara Grzegorczyk.
IBK Capital Business Plan Competition
www.iveybpc.com The IVEY BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION is Canada’s premiere student business plan competition. With entrepreneurial teams drawn from business schools across the country, the competition offers students an opportunity to present innovative business plans to potential investors, while providing investors an advance look at up and coming Canadian ventures.
The event is organized entirely by student volunteers and funded by private sponsorship. Winner of the IVEY BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION will also represent Canada at the pre-eminent Global MOOT Corp Business Plan Competition at the University of Texas at Austin. The event is designed to bring together organizations and individuals interested in promoting entrepreneurial activity in Canada. This includes entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, government agencies and academics among others. The strategic vision for the Competition is to grow this annual event to attract national attention on entrepreneurial activities and the direction of this important aspect on the economy.
Since 1999, hundreds of teams from across Canada have developed business ideas and presented them to a distinguished panel of judges at the Richard Ivey School of Business in London, Ontario. Past winners of the Competition include teams representing University of British Columbia, Richard Ivey School of Business, as well as Duke University. back to top
See all the IBK Business Plan Competition pictures here.
Entrepreneurship Club
Entrepreneurs @ Ivey is a student-run club dedicated to educating, encouraging and inspiring entrepreneurship among members. It encourages active membership participation and provides opportunities for members to realize goals through networking events, idea exchanges and support from Ivey faculty and alumni. Members want to work in an entrepreneurial environment, develop and hone entrepreneurial skills and become global leaders, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. The Entrepreneurship club works closely with the Institute for Entrepreneurship in planning events and networking with Ivey alumni. back to top
The HBA ACE Entrepreneurship Club has hosted/co-hosted events such as: Financing for Entrepreneurs, The Ivey Film Festival, Social Enterprise Bootcamp, Lessons from an Angel Investor (Video), Summer Business Ideas, Microfinance Day, and Craig Simpson - Business and the Team (Video).
The LEADER Project is a student run initiative to help develop skills in the former Soviet Union. Established in 1991 as Project USSR, volunteer instructors taught basic skills of finance and accounting, marketing and general management to selected Soviet officials and hopeful entrepreneurs at various institutions in Moscow and Leningrad. In 1993 project USSR was renamed the LEADER Project. The Project has expanded to include cities in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia and now Cuba.
This year there are 54 students involved and over 10 sites visited. A new site has been added to the LEADER Project this year which will focus on teaching Entrepreneurship skills. The IFE was actively involved in writing the new curriculum and also provided funding for five students to teach entrepreneurship in Dnipropetrovs’k, Ukraine for a period of seven days. The IFE is looking forward to future involvement with the entrepreneurship component of the LEADER Project.
See an album of photos from the LEADER site Togliatti, Russia here.