The Official Blog of Enterprize Canada

Lost Footage: Innovasian 2008

2009-01-27T00:11:00.000-08:00

Innovasian!

2 good looking people

Seriously you guys, stop being so attractive!

Less Than A Week To Go! Deadline Extended!

2008-11-24T23:16:00.000-08:00

You spoke, we listened.

Enterprize Canada has extended the deadline for business plan submissions up to December 7. Now you have no excuse not to make your mark!

Chocolate Deceit Part 1!

2008-11-23T02:14:00.001-08:00

Enterprize exec team + summer =

Get those Business Plans in by November 30th, advance registration no longer required!

2008-11-18T15:10:00.000-08:00

$100,000 prize pool.
$100,000 prize pool.
$100,000 prize pool.

You. A(some) partner(s). One opportunity.

Take the leap.

Enterprize Canada is excited for Entrepreneurship Week Canada!

2008-11-09T20:55:00.000-08:00

Entrepreneurship Week Canada.

Entrepreneurship Week is a celebration of innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity. The Week will bring together thousands of students across the University of British Columbia through online and local activities and encourage them to think innovatively and unleash their ideas. Through a coordinated effort with many different campus organizations, during one week every year, UBC students will celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit in hopes of inspiring a new generation of young entrepreneurs.

EWC Event Details:

Wednesday, Nov 12
Opening Ceremony - Keynote Speaker: Terri Knox - Imagine It! Competition begins
The Lahda Centre
Time: 5pm to 6pm

The opening ceremony promises to be a blast! Come join us in this excellent oppurtunity where you will meet young, aspiring student entrepreneurs from across UBC. Expect an atmosphere that's comfortable and conducive to networking while Terri Knox shares her insightful and innovative thoughts to pump you up for the week that lies ahead. We will unveil the secret item for the Imagine It! Competiton and go over the rules. SIGN UP NOW - it's free! Food and drinks to be served.

"Terri Knox has accumulated a wealth of experience while dealing with the public in her 22 years in the airline industry. Terri was the coordinator of Education and Training for the Tourism Industry. Nominated Female Entrepreneur of the Year, Terri’s successful company has been bringing inspirational keynotes and seminars to a wide variety of clients of every sector across North America.
Terri is an insightful, innovative and high energy speaker, author, trainer, and life coach who will challenge you to use with tools such as introspection and humour to live each day with passion and purpose as you journey on your road to self discovery and enlightenment; learning to maximize your unique God given potential on both a personal and professional level. Her major areas of expertise are: personal development, achieving work life balance, self-image, team-work and customer relations."
Visit Terri's website

Thursday, Nov 13
TEC Movie Night: "Pirates of Silicon Valley"
Room: Hennings 201
Time: 4pm to 6pm

Watch this excellent film based on the book Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer by Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine. It is an unauthorized made-for-television docudrama written and directed by Martyn Burke which documents the rise of the home computer (personal computer) through the rivalry between Apple Computer and Microsoft.

Monday, Nov 17
TELUS Innovation Tour
Address: TELUS Innovation Centre, 555 Robson, Downtown Vancouver
Maximum 20 students
Time: 2:45pm to 4:30pm
To sign up please contact Winnie Lai
TELUS Innovation Centre Website

VCPE Speaker Session with Andrew Csinger
Topic: Commercialization, IP Protection, Starting your own business, Financing your Business, Entrepreneurship
Location: Swing 108
Time: 11am to 12pm

Tuesday, Nov 18
InnoVasion Entrepreneurship Fair
Venue: PNE Agrodome
Event: Display booths, speakers and contests
Time: 10am to 4pm

The region’s entrepreneurial achievements in sectors such as digital media and life sciences are already an increasing part of its international profile, and the entrepreneurial spirit of the region’s small businesses is one component of Vancouver’s comparative advantage as a place to do business. To encourage and foster this spirit and to strengthen our branding of Vancouver as entrepreneurial, green and innovative, Vancouver Economic Developement Committee will host a one day entertainment and information based event at the Agridome on the PNE grounds during Global Entrepreneurship Week.
InnoVasion Website

Wednesday, Nov 19
VEF Momentum Mixer
Topic: "Now More than Ever" features Barry Jinks
Venue: Tunnel Multi-Lounge, 622 West ender Street
Start Time: 6pm
Tickets: $6 (includes your first drink)
Register Online

Barry Jinks, Founder, President & CEO of Colligo Networks believes that the innovation and creativity of young, up-and-coming entrepreneurs can reignite a troubled economy. Barry has started and led a number of technology start-ups including LSI Logic Corporation and Spectrum Signal Processing which he grew from start-up phase to being listed on the NASDAQ and achieving $40MM in annual sales. Barry founded Colligo thereafter and has since been recognized by E&Y as Pacific Region Entrepreneur of the Year and currently serves on a number of Boards. He will share his story of navigating and growing his business through the Dot-Com bust of 2001, and how the young entrepreneurs in attendance can refocus their ideas, business plans or established businesses to achieve success in these economic conditions. His informative speech and Q&A will be preceeded and followed by ice-breakers, ample networking time, competitions and other highlights throughout the evening.

Thursday, Nov 20
VCPE Luncheon
Topic: Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital, Problems faced by entrepreneurs and venture capitalists.
Venue: TBD
Time: 1pm to 2pm

TEC Presents Guest Speaker: Dayna Forsyth from Irwin, White & Jennings
Topic: "Must-know Corporate Law Tips for Start-up Companies"
Venue: Hennings 202
Time: 5pm to 6pm

Questions? Contact: jannus.meyburg@enterprizecanada.org

Enterprize Canada Business Plan Information Session

2008-10-29T20:53:00.000-07:00

Need a team for the Enterprize business plan competition?
Want to connect with the best and the brightest that UBC has to offer? Want to learn how to write a business plan?

Come out to the Enterprize Canada Business Plan Information Session next Thursday from 6:00 to 8:00 at Swing 121, and let Enterprize Canada provide you with answers to both the above questions and more. All faculties welcome.

Youth Entrepreneur Social Pictures

2008-10-21T13:32:00.000-07:00

Enterprize Canada Conference - Video Style

2008-10-15T20:56:00.000-07:00

Enterprize Canada Business Plan Competition - Video Style

2008-10-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

4 Easy Personal Branding Tips

2008-10-11T20:52:00.000-07:00

We found this article on the great website that is The Closet Entrepreneur. Forget the article, the domain name "closet entrepreneur" is pretty gosh-darn awesome.

Corporations and companies today spend millions of dollars on corporate branding. Why is corporate branding so important that it attracts so many businesses, big and small, to invest much time and money on it? Effective corporate branding can boost the bottom line of your company significantly; it has the ability to equip a new product or service with instant credibility and value in the market. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know that for any serious corporation that wishes its product offerings to be successful, corporate branding is an essential and vital tool to project a strong brand and identity.

What’s in a brand anyway? I looked it up on Wikipedia, here’s what the site has to say about branding: A brand is a symbolic embodiment of all the information connected to the product and serves to create associations and expectations around it. A brand often includes a logo, fonts, color schemes, symbols, and sound, which may be developed to represent implicit values, ideas, and even personality.

Whenever we talk about branding, we almost always think of logos and slogans. See the curved tick on your running shoes and apparel and you’ll recognize in an instant the famous Nike ‘Swoosh’. What comes to your mind next? ‘Just Do It’. But do you know that branding can also take place at a personal level?

With personal branding, you’ll rely less on logos, slogans and sounds; it’s more of your individual values, qualities, personality and vision. In today’s business world, it’s important for you as an entrepreneur to learn to promote and market your personal brand. To gain an advantage over the competition, you need to stand out in a crowd. Here are four simple personal branding tips on how you can become your own brand:

1. Develop your own personal marketing plan.

Include your personal mission statement: what on earth are you here for? What do you hope to achieve in your lifetime? Specify your short-tem and long-term goals, and plan your timeline to achieve your goals. Include detailed strategies and action steps, and don’t forget to review your personal marketing plan quarterly.

2. Build up your credibility

In whichever field or industry you’re in, aim to be the best you can be and to offer the best you can give. Make use of every opportunity to learn and hone your skills. Become the expert whom people in your professional field go to for help and advice. Give a lecture, contribute advice and articles to an e-zine, or go join your local community organization.

3. Develop and present your ‘elevator speech’

An elevator speech is a short, succinct description of what you do, how you do it differently from the others, and the benefits you’re able to provide to your customers. Develop yours today and present it to prospective clients whenever opportunities arise.

4. Contribute your time, talent, and money to charitable causes

Find a charitable cause which you are passionate about and is related to your particular field of expertise. Give it back to society for the help society has given to you. Donate your time by volunteering to do work for free for a local charity. Give your expertise and advice or even donate money to a charitable cause. By doing all these, you’re reinforcing your personal brand and establishing your credibility.

Your personal brand, if managed and developed properly, can become your greatest business asset. Decide today to build up your personal brand, and it’ll go a long way in your entrepreneurial career.

Written for The Closet Entrepreneur by Marcel Sim, author of GetEntrepreneurial.com, a blog full of small business tips and advice, and a great resource for aspiring entrepreneurs!

Original article can be found here

Yes…Yes, YES! Youth Entrepreneur Social a Big Success

2008-10-10T18:13:00.000-07:00

Thursday night Small Business B.C., in conjunction with Enterprize Canada, hosted an evening of fun socializing and networking at Crush Lounge. With slick beats from Dj Reign setting the tone for the evening; entrepreneurs, business students and industry professionals participated in networking games, received wise words of advice from the guest speaker, Dean Barber, and enjoyed delicious drinks and hors d’oeuvres. To top it all off, great gifts from Telus, Boathouse, Goldfish, Joe Forte’s, Golds Gym, Float Relaxation Lounge, Flaming June Day Spa, SoHo Sales Coaching, and others were presented as door prizes to some very lucky winners.

The name dropping continues with special thanks to CGA B.C., the Canadian Youth Business Foundation and The Butler Did It Catering Company, who caused many a friendly competition over their delicious dessert pastries.

Popcorn, a yellow smily-face bucket, Lysol wipes and a lamp – what do these items have in common? Well, only attendees of this event would know. As Enterprize’s first networking event, formalities were thrown out the window and were instead replaced by innovative and fun activities for a livelier social environment. This, along with the laid-back atmosphere of Crush Lounge, allowed potential relationships to flourish. Look forward to more similar events held by Enterprize Canada and its partners sometime in the near future.

Enterprize Canada Retreat Pics!

2008-10-05T14:53:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday Enterprize Canada officially welcomed 7 new members (Eric Bigelow, Rachel Lao, Jill Koh, Kylie Lee, Jeff Geng, Oliver Asset and Vanessa Lee) to the team!

From Left to right, Upper row: Chad, Kevin, Jinn-Erik, Jannus, Boris, Jeff, Raheel, Olivier, Eric
Bottom Row: Dionne, Vanessa, Kylie, Isabel, Kitty, Jill and Cathy.

Mmm, cake!

Ummmm......ew. That's pretty disgusting.

Wait, so you're telling me to turn right?

Second to last team. C'mon you guys, step up your game!

The second-place team.

Just some team bonding going on here.

Uhh innovative? Hellz yeah! (those are actually socks, damn these people are good)

lol @ Boris' expression...

Oh no it's Kevin with more stuff for us to pick up off of the ice!

Enterprize team members are a peaceful, sushi-loving people.

Tyler clearly enjoys food.

Ao-ao! Our team is hot!

Pictures courtesy of Eric Bigelow.

Small Business BC Young Entrepreneurs Social

2008-10-03T00:20:00.000-07:00

Join the Enterprize team along with other young leaders for a fun evening of socializing over hors d’oeuvres (that's fancy speak for good snacks), cocktails (get yo liquor on) and networking games at Vancouver’s sexy Crush Champagne Lounge. $20 online or $25 cash at door. Includes refreshments and some crazy awesome door prizes! Register at www.smallbusinessbc.ca

The Enterprize Ice Bucket

2008-09-21T00:06:00.000-07:00

This is what happens if you make a bet and lose. Note to self: bring towels to the next Enterprize meeting...

Enterprize 2008

2008-09-20T23:54:00.000-07:00

Take a look at this year's previous Enterprize conference!

Visit Enterprize at Business Week!

2008-09-08T21:53:00.000-07:00

Enterprize will be at Business week so make sure to check our booth out. We'll be ready to answer any questions you may have, and yes, our key-chain bottle openers will be making an encore appearance. But wait, there's more! If our mere presence isn't enough to convince you to visit Business week (which it should), you could also do the following:

Jumpstart your ambitions! September 8th through 12th is Business Week! Come out from 11:00am to 3:00pm every day, outside Henry Angus, to learn about the many ways you can get involved. Come visit club booths and participate in prize giveaways and events! Here is just a sample of what you will see everyday:

MONDAY:
The Beat On-site Live Broadcast. Come out and you might win a trip for 4 to Puerto Vallarta!
Deloitte Signature BBQ and Carnival. FREE FOOD and fun courtesy of Deloitte.

TUESDAY:
Giant Iron Man Inflatable Activity
Tug O’ War against Science! Rounds start at 12:05 so be there and BRING IT. (there’s a trophee)

WEDNESDAY
BBQ: Food is fifty cents. FIFTY CENTS!
Wild Western Water Shootout: Bring a bathing suit and water guns!

THURSDAY
Gold’s Gym Ultimate Challenge
Metrolyrics.com Blackout volleyball Night Event at Mahony’s. Tickets are 10 dollars and will be sold at the Business Week booth!

FRIDAY
Fear Factor Challenge (Who has a strong stomach?)
And a chance to win Business Week shotglasses and prizes from Gold’s Gym including a VIP Membership valued at over 800 dollars!

Business Week 2008

New Microsoft Commercial

2008-09-07T12:04:00.000-07:00

So as you guys may or may not have heard, Microsoft is paying Jerry Seinfeld $10 million dollars to "spruce up" their ad campaigns. Now for some reason or another, they also decided to use Bill Gates (to cut costs...? ...Acting abilities? ...I got nothing). Anyways, check it out:

8 Ideas from Donald Trump to make it Big - from YoungEntrepreneur.com

2008-09-06T13:22:00.000-07:00

Though I don't think I could ever forgive him for introducing the world to the god awfulness of Omarosa, Donald Trump's success as a business mogul is undeniable. It then comes to no surprise that others are trying to emulate his formula for success. YoungEntrepreneur.com has compiled a list of 8 strategies that they think you should steal from the Donald. Thankfully, his hair-styling secrets are not included as a strategy.

1. Never Back Down

“I was relentless, even in the face of total lack of encouragement, because much more often than you’d think, sheer persistence is the difference between success and failure. When somebody challenges you, fight back. Be brutal, be tough, Just go get them. You can’t be scared. You do your thing, you hold your ground, you stand up tall, and whatever happens, happens. My experience is that if you’re fighting for something you believe in – even if it means alienating some people along the way – things usually work out for the best in the end. ”

2. Be A Tough Negotiator

“My style of deal-making is quite simple and straightforward. I aim very high, and then I just keep pushing and pushing and pushing to get what I’m after. Sometimes I settle for less than I sought, but in most cases I still end up with what I want.”

3. Do What You Love

“The most important thing in life is to love what you’re dong, because that’s the only way you’ll ever be really good at it. Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game. Without passion, you don’t have energy, without energy you have nothing.”

4. Think Big

“I like thinking big. I always have. If you’re going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big. Other people paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals. Most people think small because most people are afraid of success, afraid of making decisions, afraid of winning. And that gives people like me a great advantage.”

5. Be Different

“Most of my people at first favoured putting paintings on the wall. To me that was old-fashioned, unoriginal, and just not very exciting. As it turned out, the waterfall proved to be an art form in itself, almost a sculptured wall. And it attracts far more attention than we’d have gotten if we’d put up even some very wonderful art. Sometimes it pays to be a little wild.”

6. Promote Yourself

“We took our strengths and promoted them to the skies. From day one, we set out to sell Trump Tower not just as a beautiful building in a great location but as an event. If you want to sell a car and you spend five dollars to wash and polish it and then apply a little extra elbow grease, suddenly you find you can charge an extra four hundred dollars, and get it. If you don’t tell people about your success, they probably won’t know about it. ”

7. Trust Your Gut

“Experience taught me a few things. One is to listen to your gut, no matter how good something sounds on paper. I’m a great believer in asking everyone for an opinion before I make a decision. I ask I ask I ask, until I begin to get a gut feeling about something. And that’s when I make a decision. I have learned much more from conducting my own random surveys than I could ever have learned from the greatest of consulting firms. It pays to trust your instincts.”

8. Be Great

“Somewhere out there are a few men with more innate talent at golf than Jack Nicklaus, or women with greater ability at tennis than Chris Evert or Martina Navratilova, but they will never lift a club or swing a racket and therefore will never find out how great they could have been. Instead, they’ll be content to sit and watch stars perform on television. What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate.”

Meet YoungEntrepreneur.com co-founder Adam Toren at this year's BlogWorld 2008!Evan CarmichaelYoungEntrepreneur.com Blog Manager

Evan CarmichaelYoungEntrepreneur.com Blog Manager
Original Link: Steal These 8 Donald Trump Ideas To Make It Big

Enterprize at IMAGINE!

2008-09-03T19:45:00.000-07:00

The Enterprize team was out full force for the first day of school at the University of British Columbia. E for Enterprize! p.s. aren't our keychain-bottleopeners crazy awesome? Useful AND convenient. That's how we roll.

Naveen, Kylie, Tyler, as well as the back of Cathy's head, hand out cotton candy to eager students.

"While world class speakers and 3 days and 2 nights in a 4.5 star hotel sound great, I'm really just here for the cotton candy"

"Here at Enterprize we love children"

That's right, sign our mailing list!

Who are these attractive people you ask? Why they're Enterprize execs!
From left to right: Raheel, Cathy, Kevin, Tyler, Boris, Dionne, Chad and Jinn-Erik

Welcome to the Enterprize Canada Blog!

2008-09-03T11:33:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Enterprize Canada's blog! We'll be posting updates pertaining to the Enterprize conference, events leading up to the conference, and other interesting entrepreneurship related topics - definitely make sure to check us out!