Bissett Chair, Patricia Derbyshire profiled in Maclean’s Magazine
Patti Derbyshire, Chair of Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Non-profit Studies was recently profiled in an article in Maclean’s Magazine by Rosemary Counter. The article titled, New breed of entrepreneurial profs teaches students to learn by doing, is a look into the growth of entrepreneur curricula across campuses and those who teach it.
“We must be able to speak truth to the subject matter with some kind of experience,” says Derbyshire, now the CEO of Torch Motorcycles, a community of women riders who call themselves “moto-enthusiasts.” Their goal: To collect the data needed to design and manufacture the perfect bike for women. Watching the entrepreneurial spirit in action might be the best way for students to learn it—or even catch it. “We’re called serial entrepreneurs for a reason,” says Derbyshire. “We can’t help it.”
4th Annual JMH LaunchPad Pitch Competition another huge success for Mount Royal Students
On Wednesday April 5th, 2016, the 4th annual JMH Launch Pad Pitch Competition took place in Ross Glen Hall in front of approximately “200 high-energy supporters”. Seven Mount Royal student ventures competed in a “Dragon’s Dens-style” competition that seen the students pitch their ventures and answer questions from a panel of esteemed judges, all while vying for their share of over $75,000 in cash and prizes!
Ray De-Paul, Director for the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, reports that the successful evening began by paying tribute to some of the exceptional students that have participated in this competition in prior years. Ray indicated that all 7 pitches went incredibly well and the judges had the difficult task of announcing the winners.
Bissett School of Business extends congratulations to all of the 2016 LaunchPad winners:
Smoke Barrel (Zac Hartley)
Smoke Barrel manufactures custom hand crafted hot and cold smokers from old wine and whiskey barrels. The most beautiful smoker on the market can also be customized to tailor the product for the most discerning customer.
JMH & Co Award: $10,000
BUSY Foundation Award: $10,000
Stikeman Elliott LLP Legal Services: $10,000 (in-kind)
Green Cup (Emily Bartlett and Ozzy Lang)
Green Cup is a social enterprise that is reducing the amount of coffee cup waste in Canada. They sell advertisements on compostable cups and distribute those cups in the advertiser’s target market.
JMH & Co Award: $10,000
Institute for Environmental Sustainability Award: $2,500
Nomad Eco Products (Zachary Champoux)
Nomad Eco Products produces a 100% recycled yoga mat that mends our relationship with the planet by making what is torn, whole again. The yoga mats are made from recycled denim and are as unique as they are environmentally friendly.
JMH & Co Award: $10,000
TANG (Brad Williamson)
Tang is a geographic-based, temporary social media network that allows users to see what people are up to around them. Users can search for relevant content based off of a hashtag, within a particular vicinity, or both. The user controls how long the content exists so can share silly moments without the infinity history of most social media.
JMH & Co Award: $10,000
Little Blue Cloud (Carille Mendoza and Michaela Day)
Little Blue Cloud is an online/app-based resource for students struggling with depression and anxiety. Features such as an anonymous peer support chat system and a self-help database provide a comfortable, non-stigmatized environment where users can talk to others facing similar situations.
Institute for Community Prosperity Award: $2,500
Design4Change Marketing Services: $5,000 (in-kind)
The Well Brewing Company (Quinn Wilton)
The Well Brewing Company is Alberta’s first community-driven craft brewery and well-positioned to take advantage of the booming craft beer industry. Members receive exclusive access to member only beer, tasting events, and democratic voting on names and the types of beer being produced.
BUSY Foundation Award: $5,000
Congratulations to all participants and winners! The Bissett School of Business would also like to acknowledge the continued success of The Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, for their continued success in mentoring and inspiring the entrepreneurial minds and ambitions of our Mount Royal Students!
“Community feedback about our students consistently puts them in a class of their own in Calgary.”-Ray DePaul
Bissett School of Business General Management students compete in Canada’s Business Model Competition
A team of 4th. year, General Management, BBA students were a “BBQ Rib” away from entering the Finals of Canada’s Business Model Canvas Competition (CBMC), held March 4-5th. at Dalhousie University.
Canada’s Business Model Competition ® (CBMC) represents an innovative and alternative paradigm for post-secondary students to demonstrate their innovativeness and entrepreneurship. The CBMC uses the philosophy and approach of Alex Osterwalder’s ‘Business Model Canvas’ plus integrating Steve Blanks’ ‘The Lean Start-up Movement’. These tools use an approach driven by a question, hypothesis, and validation process to create innovative business models that solve real problems. Leading-edge universities such as Stanford, Harvard, BYU, Waterloo, UBC and Dalhousie in addition to innovative global companies have used these models. Over the past five years, our Entrepreneurship Program has also integrated these models into our curriculum. — Douglas MacDonald
Mount Royal University providing impetus for Entrepreneur Students
Motivating, guiding, inciting and inspiring individual students to be innovative and realize their “entrepreneurial ambitions” has been the direction of the Bissett School of Business through the Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Recent Launch Pad Winner and MRU student, Paul Shumlich (Deepwater Farms) and fellow MRU students, Derek Rucki and Stefan Radeta (TLink Golf), JMH New Venture Pitch winners can attest to how MRU provided them the opportunity to pursue their dreams.
A recent article in The Calgary Herald (Sutherland-Smith 2016, February 19, http://calgaryherald.com/business/local-business/students-taking-care-of-business) outlines the program offerings by post-secondary institutions in the Calgary area and the varied stories of successful student entrepreneurs. As interest in these programs continues to grow, so does the means and ways of supporting the entrepreneur student:
“Mount Royal has a very experiential innovation and entrepreneurship program of nine different courses that force the student to experience entrepreneurship rather than simply study it,” says Ray DePaul, director of the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at MRU.
“For those passionate students who want to go beyond the classroom we have LaunchPad which gives students an opportunity to launch their venture. While students often get engaged in order to get access to funding — last year we gave over $70,000 in grants — they quickly realize that the true value is in the mentorship and being part of a community of like-minded, driven entrepreneurs.” – Ray DePaul, Director of Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Student Entrepreneur of the Year awarded to a Bissett Student, for the second consecutive year!
Paul Shumlich, founder of Deepwater Farms and fourth year BBA student, has been awarded the Student Entrepreneur of the Year by the Calgary Entrepreneurs Organization. Paul’s company uses aquaponics technology to provide year round, organic, locally grown produce to area restaurants. As part of the award, Paul will receive $5000 and a trip to Toronto to compete in the Canada-wide competition. This is Paul’s second award for Deepwater Farms, having been the LaunchPad winner this past April.
A year ago, Derek Rucki, Mount Royal University student, and developer of TLink Golf was also awarded the Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Two consecutive winners are a testament to not only the quality of students here at Mount Royal University but also to the Innovation and Entrepreneur program within the Bissett School of Business..
Bissett School of business wishes to congratulate Paul on his achievement as well as wishing him good luck in the Toronto competition. To read the Metro News Calgary article profiling Paul’s winning endeavor, please follow the link:
Mount Royal Students Brewing Success
The Well Brewing Company, a member based brewing company is the brainchild of Mount Royal students, Bryton Udon and Quinn Wilton. Using an entrepreneurship class as the impetus, the duo, tired of brand beers, decided to capitalize on the craft beer niche within the Calgary market. Not being able to afford the start up costs of their own brewery, they came up with the idea to “develop beer within a community”. Offering different tiers of memberships, and the ability to vote on the beers brewed is proving to be a novel approach in the craft beer industry.
Their success has caught the attention of Olds College and a “school to school” partnership is in the works. To read more of their story, follow the link:
Students Compete to Out-Campaign Violent Extremism
MRU’s student team presents the WANT Movement (We Are Not Them) campaign in Washington. WANT aims at changing misperceptions of Islam spread by extremist groups.
See the full article here:
Dustin Paisley Joins Institute for Community Prosperity
Dustin Paisley has joined our team as the Social Innovation Animator at the Institute for Community Prosperity. In this role, reporting also to the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, he is working to develop a social innovation hub (co-working and incubation space).
Dustin is a recent graduate from Mount Royal University where he focused on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, with a particular interest in Social Innovation. While in University, Dustin spent 3 years with Enactus Mount Royal where he worked on community development projects and learned how to use the positive power of business to change lives. Dustin is an advocate for social innovation and plays an active role in the greater social impact community.
Enactus National Competition
Designer Thought Talk Series with Kat Marks – March 19th
Join international designer and creative director Kat Marks as she delivers her second Thought Talk on March 19th. Her lecture is entitled, “Your Ideas Are Not Your Own” and will be followed by an interactive hands-on workshop. This speaking event will be held on March 19th from 4:00-5:30pm in the Bissett Boardroom EB2061. Everyone is encouraged to attend and faculty should feel free to invite students.