MUN’S dream chasers
Entrepreneurial work terms can be ‘powerful tools’
Bluebrick — Three students. Three ideas. One company. Imagine if you were an engineering co-op student embarking on your third or fourth work term.
Imagine now if you didn’t have to go through the process of applying for jobs and doing interviews. No prep. No nerves. No uncertainty.
Imagine instead that you could take your own idea and start a company and not have to worry about the money to do so.
That’s what happened to engineering students John Ennis (civil), Luke Tremblett (mechanical) and Nick Warren (computer and electrical) when they received funding from a joint pilot project supported by the Memorial Centre for Entrepreneurship (MCE) and the Office of the Vice-president (Research) or VPR. The students are among several who are receiving $4,500 each for their internships with the MCE, allowing them to pursue their business ideas this summer.
“It all started when we were ambassadors for MCE and went on a trip to Silicon Valley in San Francisco with nine other students. We visited tech companies, venture capitalists, the innovation lab at Ericsson as well as some accelerators and incubators,” said Mr. Ennis.
“It was life changing,” said Mr. Tremblett. “We saw people chasing their dreams and making it happen. That trip taught us that we could do anything.”
Officially launched in March 2017, the MCE is a campus-wide partnership between Memorial’s Faculty of Business Administration and the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science. It was created to promote entrepreneurship, support students, faculty and staff in developing their start-up business ideas, and contribute to developing an attractive entrepreneurial ecosystem in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Thanks to the support the budding entrepreneurs are receiving from Memorial, the trio — who are due to graduate in 2019 — formed Bluebrick Design & Development, an umbrella group for three separate business ideas: Fitsu, Watermark and Grassroots Supply.
Fitsu, a 3-D clothing modelling company, aims to help online shoppers fit clothes to their specific body, so they can see how the clothes fit before purchasing. The three students are currently finishing the physical prototype and will then establish clothing suppliers as clients.
For Watermark they have partnered with a fourth Memorial University engineering student, Anna Gosine, to assist Africans access clean water.
The team will develop a software package that allows residents of Malawi, south of Tanzania in eastern Africa, to mark their bore holes for water. This will help residents by alerting them if a borehole is not operational, saving them time and energy before travelling for water. It will also help the residents by enabling the area mechanics to service the boreholes more quickly.
“Anna is currently on the ground in Malawi, and working with large NGOS (Non Governmental Organizations),” said Ennis. “They are really excited about the benevolent innovation, and it’s currently being reviewed by decision makers in those organizations.”
Bluebrick’s third entity is proactively preparing for next year when the federal government is slated to legalize marijuana.
“Grassroots Supply will connect a legal marijuana purchaser to the cultivator,” said Warren, explaining the software they develop will generate codes, which will be put on packaging Canada wide. When a consumer scans the code, s/he will be able to access information about the grower, the batch, strain attributes, batch reviews and an introduction to other products.
For its part, Memorial is proud to foster early stage entrepreneurship.
“The MCE is the starting point for any Memorial student, faculty or staff member interested in entrepreneurship,” said Florian Villaumé, director, MCE. “I believe that entrepreneurial work terms will be one of the most powerful tools at Memorial to inspire and prepare undergraduate students for entrepreneurship. The support of the Office of the Vice-president (Research) will increase the impact of the program and we are very appreciative of that.”
“Through this unique partnership, Memorial is aiming to establish a university where entrepreneurship is seen as a viable career path,” added Tim Avis, director or the university’s Technology Transfer and Commercialization Office (TTCO). “As a champion of entrepreneurship, and a strategic unit within the VPR Portfolio, we are proud to partner with the MCE for this work term pilot project.”
“The trip to Silicon Valley with the MCE taught us the importance of innovation in work. School taught us how to solve problems, but not how to sell solutions,” said Ennis. “Between the trip and this entrepreneurial work term, we can do both.”
If you are a student doing a Memorial-recognized internship, you can apply for an MCE entrepreneurial work-term by sending in an application before Monday, July 24. For more details on applications or booking a meeting with Daan Goossens, visit www.mce.mun.ca
This fall the MCE will take up to six students for paid placements. At the end of the work term, you will own the IP you develop.