Centre for Entrepreneurship (CfE)

CfE's EXPERIENCE VENTURES BRINGS TOGETHER HUMBER COLLEGE STUDENTS FOR ‘INNOVATE-A-THON’

Cheryl Mitchell, MBA, M.Ed. Director, Centre for Entrepreneurship (CfE) Faculty of Business

AS PART OF EXPERIENCE VENTURES, HUMBER STUDENTS FROM DIFFERENT FACULTIES FORM DYNAMIC TEAMS TO HELP YMCA ACADEMY STUDENTS SUCCESSFULLY TRANSITION TO POST-SECONDARY.

THE CENTRE FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP (CFE) is a studentfocused, on-campus destination for anyone who wants to explore the world of entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship. CfE's mission is to develop and coordinate entrepreneurship opportunities and activities of the highest quality for Humber College and beyond. CfE supports early-stage business development by providing access to workshops, events,

mentorship, co-working spaces, expert support, resources and access to opportunities for entrepreneurial students, alumni and community across all disciplines and industries.

One of the mandates of the CfE is to collaborate with industry partners, organizations and students to create tangible solutions to various problems faced by the community. A recent Experience Ventures hackathon organized by CfE is a prominent example of the centre’s collaborative initiatives that seek to address community challenges.

Experience Ventures was created by the Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking at the University of Calgary to promote collaboration and innovation while giving students the chance to apply entrepreneurial thinking skills to real-world problems. Humber joined the U of C and eight other Canadian post-secondary institutions in the program that offers students paid opportunities to develop their skills.

When 40 Humber College students gathered for a hackathon as part of Experience Ventures, it quickly became apparent that the term “hackathon” wasn’t quite right. Kasey Dunn, project manager at Humber’s Centre for Entrepreneurship, says they approached it as an innovate-a-thon/hackathon.

For the weekend program, Humber presented a challenge based on the needs of the YMCA Academy, a local school for students who struggle in traditional educational settings. The Academy had noticed that some of its graduates were having difficulty navigating the transition from high school to postsecondary. The student teams taking part worked to bridge this gap. The solutions they devised didn’t have to be technologybased, which explains the innovate-a-thon part of the equation.

The winning proposal was a portal where Academy students could find the critical information needed to ease the transition to post-secondary. The portal also directs students to accessibility services available at post-secondary institutions.

Entrepreneurial thinking at work

Cheryl Mitchell, the Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship, says the hackathon has benefits that go well beyond the final proposals.

“The students all come from different backgrounds and programs, so they all have these great, innovative ideas that come from different places.”

—Cheryl Mitchell, Director, Centre for Entrepreneurship

As these students come together to tackle the problem, they form interdisciplinary and dynamic teams that must collaborate to succeed.

The success of the hackathon teams was readily apparent. The YMCA was thrilled with the submissions and its collaboration with Experience Ventures. Another team of Humber students will develop the winning proposal, and the YMCA and the school will continue to work together on other projects.

For Mitchell, seeing a hackathon proposal get built out to help students is further proof of the value of Experience Ventures. “It gives students the opportunity to take what they’ve learned in the classroom and work with different companies and organizations to help them solve problems,” she says. “It’s always great to watch them work together and see what they come up with.”

That collaboration is a key tenet of entrepreneurial thinking, and Experience Ventures helps students develop the critical skill of putting their heads together to solve problems. Experience Ventures also appeals to students because they get paid for their work.

“I think it [Experience Ventures] brings in a lot of students who we wouldn’t otherwise see. At the hackathon, we saw a lot of different faculties represented that we don’t normally see at the centre.”

—Kasey Dunn, Project Manager, Centre for Entrepreneurship

A bigger challenge

Experience Ventures offers a variety of job opportunities besides hackathons. As part of the program, Humber is also running challenges. These take place over six weeks and see interdisciplinary groups of students tackle problems faced by local companies.

Each term, groups of students work for up to 36 hours with five local companies that operate in various fields. In the fall term, one group worked with a packaging firm to improve uptake of its reusable coffee bags. “The students talked to current customers, interviewed people and got a good understanding of what would make it more convenient, how it fits into people’s lifestyles, what they’re looking for,” Dunn says, “At the end, students proposed what they thought would be a good system to help the business get a better return on those bags.”

Dunn says the company was impressed with the work of the students. That was true of the other four companies that participated. One—a fashion company that makes clothing out of recycled fabric—hired one of the students it worked with in Experience Ventures.

Landing a job is a pretty clear example of the benefits of networking. All students in Experience Ventures make valuable contacts with their peers as well as local startups and social ventures.

“It [Experience Ventures] has a huge impact for startups that might not be ready to hire employees yet. They can get that little bit of support or talent or new ideas. We see really, really good feedback from them.”

—Kasey Dunn, Project Manager, Centre for Entrepreneurship

The feedback from students has also been encouraging. Many who have gone through Experience Ventures are investigating other entrepreneurial learning opportunities at Humber. “We’ve had a huge response in people applying for these positions,” Mitchell says. “I think they’ve become more aware that entrepreneurship is a career choice.”

Centre for Entrepreneurship offers membership for every stage of the entrepreneurial journey:

General Members

• Idea Jam workshops

• InStage VR workshops (interview and pitch skills)

• Work Integrated Learning Opportunities through Experience Ventures

Ideation & Creation Members

• Develop your business idea in the Be Your Own Boss (BYOB) workshops series

• Develop your own business plan and prepare to launch in the Innovate and Create Entrepreneurship (ICE) program

• Compete in the Launch Me pitch competition

• Join community meetups

Launch Members

• Work one-on-one with expert mentors to further your business

• Brush up your business plan through the Innovate and Create Entrepreneurship (ICE) program

• Compete in the Launch Me pitch competition

• Provide placements or job opportunities for Humber students

• Access CfE facilities, professional partners, and member discounts/perks

• HumberBiz Portfolio

• List your business in the CfE business directory

• Receive promotional support

• Provide placements, job opportunities, or projects for Humber students

• Access CfE facilities and member discounts/perks

HumberBiz Portfolio

• List your business in the CfE business directory

• Receive promotional support

• Provide placements, job opportunities, or projects for Humber students

• Access CfE facilities and member discounts/perks

The Centre for Entrepreneurship currently runs the following programs:

• Innovate & Create Entrepreneurship (ICE) program

• Design Thinking Program

• BMO Launch Me program & competition

• Be Your Own Boss & live pitch competition

• National hackathon

• Student-led projects

• Women entrepreneurs

• Key to entrepreneurship modules

To learn more about the Centre for Entrepreneurship, you can watch the virtual open house video.

The Centre for Entrepreneurship hosts a variety of events and workshops to help people develop their entrepreneurial skills. You can learn more about the current events on the centre’s Events & Workshop webpage.

ABOUT

Cheryl Mitchell, MBA, M.Ed. Director, Centre for Entrepreneurship (CfE), Faculty of Business

Cheryl Mitchell, MBA, M.Ed.

Director, Centre for Entrepreneurship (CfE), Faculty of Business

linkedin.com/in/mitchellcheryl1cheryl.mitchell@humber.ca

Cheryl Mitchell is Director of Centre for Entrepreneurship at Humber College. With 22 years of experience in business, Cheryl has extensive experience in adult education, entrepreneurial education, finance and financial planning. Cheryl is a professor and an entrepreneurial professional with strong leadership capabilities who focuses on providing mentorship and educational experiential workshops to meet student and client needs. Cheryl provides advice to entrepreneurs and strengthens relationships within the entrepreneurial community, both within Humber College and with external partners.