2011 Mix’n'Match night off to a great start

(cross-posted from www.pfcup.com.au)

Yesterday evening’s mix’n'match event kicked off the season for the Peter Farrell Cup challenge (run by the CIE) and the Social Entrepreneurship Competition (in partnership with the CSI). Peter Kazacos, CIE Board member and generous sponsor of the Social Entrepreneurship Competition, attended the event and was delighted to hear about all the exciting ideas students were preparing to submit to both competitions.

The event began with a welcoming introduction by Dr. Martin Bliemel, who outlined the series of workshops leading up to the finals (26 Oct for the PFCup, and 27 Oct for the SEComp) and what factors judges would focus on for the PFCup competition. This was followed by an explanation from Cheryl Kernot of the CSI about the evaluation criteria for SEComp entries, and some wise words of inspiration by Peter Kazacos. After these addresses, the audience of over 40 students and even some faculty broke into networking mode to discuss ideas and crystallize team composition.

Last year, this very event catalyzed the TaxiApps team to work on their idea and submit it to the competition. They ended up winning the 2010 Peter Farrell Cup, and went on to win 2nd place at the John Heine Challenge in Adelaide. Since then, they have used the prizes from the competitions to fund the development of goCatch, which is now available for free via the iTunes store, and are actively pitching their business to the angel community. They attended last night’s event and helped inspire the next generation of participants to pursue their dream.

Based on some of the ideas we overheard floating through noise of the networking event, this is going to be a great season of entrepreneurship competitions!

CIE Competition Season - Kick-Off July 28th

As you may have guessed from the previous blog post, the competition season is upon us.

This year in addition to the long-running Peter Farrell Cup Entrepreneurship Competition, the CIE is working in partnership with the Centre for Social Impact to present the Social Entrepreneurship Prize.

The Social Entrepreneurship Prize competition, sponsored by Peter Kazacos, provides university students with the opportunity to bring their social entrepreneurship idea to life by pitching to a panel of experts from the Sydney social entrepreneurship community.

Both competitions are open to all currently-enrolled students at UNSW or other Australian universities, at either the undergraduate or post-graduate level. 

While each competition has a distinct "flavour" and orientation, the CIE assists students to prepare by offering a series of workshops to build contestants' key foundational skills. 

Teams submit a business plan and finalists are selected to pitch their ideas “live” to the judging panel. Finalists will be ranked on the idea and its market viability and also presentation and skill at answering the judges’ questions.

Students entering any of the competitions are encouraged to attend the workshops and learn in a relaxed and encouraging atmosphere.

The first workshop is the Mix n' Match evening, held from 6-9 PM on July 28 in the ASB Lounge.  Food and drink will be served and registration is required.  Click here to register.

Check out the Events page on the CIE website; we'll be posting upates, information, and FAQs as the workshops come up.

Looking foward to an exciting competition season, and we'll see you on the 28th!

Social Innovation Competition

(from our colleagues at the UNSW Co-op Students Charitable Society)

Want to put your skills and creative knowledge to the test and make a real-life impact on the community? Then the Social Innovation Competition is the project for you!

What is the Social Innovation Competition?
The Social Innovation Competition (SIC) aims to connect university students to a variety of charities and not-for-profit organisations with the purpose of creating awareness of the challenges faced by these organisations and to help generate innovative solutions to these challenges. The competition will allow students to gain first hand contact with charity representatives as well as empowering them through specialized CIE workshops to create unique and “outside the box” ideas.

How can you benefit from participating in this competition? 

• Put your skills and knowledge to the test to come up with creative ways of addressing challenges faced by charities;
• Make a meaningful impact on the community that goes far beyond making a simple donation;
• Learn how to develop and structure a business proposal through a range of CIE workshops;
• Win casg prizes for your allocated charity as well as prizes for yourselves;
• Potentially assist your charity to implement your idea if the charity deems it feasible;
• Develop teamwork, leadership, communication, presentation, problem-solving and analytical skills, which all look great on your resume!

How does the competition work?

The competition will run for 6 weeks. Students compete in teams of 4 for the chance to win prize money for their charity. 

 

Student teams will register their team and outline why they should be chosen to participate in the competition. Selected teams will participate in the information night where charities and students will be given the opportunity to meet and brainstorm with their host charity. 6 weeks later all teams will present their ideas to a panel of judges who will select the prizewinners. 

 

Interested?

Then stay tuned for further updates! For more information, email us on SIC.Project2011@gmail.com

 

The Innovator's Challenge!

Student Entrepreneurs: Agents of Change are launching The Innovators Challenge on August, to be run simultaneously in Melbourne and at UNSW.

The event is based on Stanford's competition of the same name, and it's had great success for a number of years as part of Entrepreneurs Week (http://www.eweek.org.au/).

There will be a launch event on the 11th of August with a keynote speaker and the announcement of a bunch of in-kind and experiential prizes for which students will compete.

The finals and judging takes place on the 19th of August. Both the launch and the finals will occur simultaneously in Melbourne and Sydney.

More information and website coming soon!!