CIE Newsletter, Autumn 2010 (repost)

As we move our newsletters and updates to a blog format, we are also reposting the old newsletters so we don't completely lose them. Pardon the formatting.

Quarterly Newsletter - Autumn 2010 Dear subscriber, Welcome to the first CIE newsletter for what promises to be a truly exciting 2010! In the last month, the CIE has transitioned the daily operations leadership from Christopher Witt to Martin Bliemel. Chris has done a great job building up the CIE since 2007, and is now handing the reigns to Martin to continue growing the CIE and launching several new initiatives. Chris will remain on the CIE Advisory Board, and in a big supporting role. Martin Bliemel is a Lecturer in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and joined the School of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the Australian School of Business from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. His research is on the use and development of entrepreneurial networks. Prior to his PhD he worked as a mechanical engineer in one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed companies, completed his MBA at Queen’s University and started his own business consulting company to help entrepreneurs with market research, financial modelling, business plans and raising capital. For 5 years, he was also a mentor with New Ventures Business Competition and a presentation room manager at the Angel Forum. The New Year has been a busy one already; in this newsletter you will find: The Entrepreneurs Notebook – A continuation of last year’s popular column Get Involved – An invitation to join students and faculty in the classroom Upcoming events – Some dates to pen into your diary Announcements – Keep yourself up to date TSponsorship opportunities – How you can help fund entrepreneurial development ................................................................................................ Entrepreneur’s Corner Creating Value – Are you doing it? By Christopher Witt This is a critical question for us all, and one I ask entrepreneurs from time to time. In the conversation that inevitably follows, it offers insight into not only one’s understanding of “value” but also the elements of valuation. Further, this informs most business manager’s priorities on how to allocate people, time and capital. Several questions to consider arise from this starting point. The first question is, do you know what your business is worth, and to whom? A realistic awareness of this value range is crucial. An inflated concept of value is unhelpful – it can result in problematic engagements with stakeholders, including investors, when seeking to raise capital. But a value logic based on operational metrics can generate constructive measures for your business. These are frequently called Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs. As your team improves these KPIs, so will grow the value embedded in the business. A harsh reality of current times is the importance of liquidity in every market. That an entity has a value is predicated on a market of buyers for those assets. With no buyers, there is no value. A useful baseline for value is replacement costs. That another business could be built to replicate your place in the market, will likely bound your value. Of course we all think we are irreplaceable, that our customers love us and would never leave! But a humble reconsideration of this is useful. A second question is what is your timeframe for building your business? Are you working towards an exit point – perhaps a retirement point in time? Or are you taking a long term view without a specific end in mind? Like a property developer who builds units with a buyer-audience in mind from the start, it is a positive approach to build the business to suit potential buyers within the time frame in question. My final question for you is how do you allocate your people, time and capital to be in alignment with your identified operational metrics (value drivers), and timeframe you are working to? An example of this is awareness that entrepreneurs need to spend capital, allocate people and allow time to pursue specific opportunities. As the Leader you cannot be everywhere – the CEO must seek force multipliers, where you can punch above your weight. A fragmented approach to opportunity seeking will result in a grab-bag of customers & products, and a scattering of your people and capital resources across a thin landscape. Not a good result over the longer term. As a Board member, I like to see from the CEO (even in smaller businesses) a summary statement of the specific opportunity, the capital to be spent, the manpower needed, the financial impact expected and the timeframe for results to be shown. The discipline associated with this approach works to harmonise your strategy with the operational tasks needed to produce more consistent results. And over time, your value – whatever that may be – will grow with the results as measured in your KPIs. ................................................................................................ Get Involved in the Classroom The School of Strategy & Entrepreneurship is always looking for entrepreneurs to participate in lectures and add a real story to our courses. At the undergraduate level, entrepreneurs are invited to be guest speakers to talk about how they launched their ventures, as well as jury panel members to provide feedback to students’ business pitches (see STRE2010 Fundamentals of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for more). At the postgraduate level, entrepreneurs are invited to present their business pitch and get feedback from exceptionally talented Executive MBA students (see AGSM MBA Strategic Management Year for details). If you are interested, please contact us. ................................................................................................ Upcoming Events Schedule Meet the Entrepreneur: Ernst & Young This event is at capacity. Registration requests will be handled pending availability and no-shows. When: Thursday 20th May, 5:30 for 6pm start until 8pm Where: 680 George Street, Ernst & Young Sydney City Offices, Level 33 Moderator: Tim Harcourt, Chief Economist of AusTrade. Topic: From concept to commercial reality Are you interested in starting up a technology business? If you want it to be successful, learn from those who already are. Our panel members are leaders in this field and will provide guests an insight on their entrepreneurial approach and how to navigate through the commercialisation process, including securing funding and grants. Learn about their experiences of commercialising early stage technology businesses and receive practical advice, followed by a facilitated question and answer session. Meet the panel Damian Kay, Founder, Telcoinabox. From a conversation in the lift, telcoinabox has become a leader in the telecommunications industry, with an annual growth rate of over 180%. Hamish Hawthorn, CEO, ATP Innovations. ATP is a collaboration between four of Australia’s top universities, providing value-added services to accelerate growth of early stage technology businesses. Click here to register ................................................................................................ Open Innovation and Global invention Capital (Hosted by NSi and Intellectual Ventures) When: Wednesday 26 May, 2010, 4pm – 5.30pm, followed by drinks and networking Where: Tyree Room, John Niland Scientia Building, University of New South Wales Moderator: Hamish Hawthorn, Chief Executive Officer, ATP Innovations Topic: Can Invention Capital save the world? Venture Capital, while still an important part of any entrepreneurial ecosystem, will only help stimulate a small fraction of the needed innovation. New models of technology commercialisation are emerging. ‘Invention capital’ is a model for addressing this challenge through cross-border open innovation and global capital investment. Keynote address: Invention Capital, what it is and why the world needs more of it. Dr Patrick Ennis, Global Head of Technology, Intellectual Ventures Panellists Dr Patrick Ennis, Global Head of Technology, Intellectual Ventures Chris Somogyi, Senior Strategist, Intellectual Ventures UNSW Professor Veena Sahajwalla, Director SMaRT Centre Mark Bennett, CEO NewSouth Innovations Click here to register. ................................................................................................ PitchFest This year, PitchFest will be run as a double feature with the iChallenge. iChallenge is a new event by the ASB that is a business pitch competition for high-school students. PitchFest is a business pitch competition, open to any UNSW student. It is also the launch event for the Peter Farrell Cup Challenge, UNSW’s signature business plan competition. Details to be announced soon. ................................................................................................ Announcements Ernst & Young – Entrepreneur of the Year Awards Ernst & Young is searching for outstanding entrepreneurs from around Australia who embody the values and spirit of the Entrepreneur of the Year program. Nominations can be submitted by anyone associated with a successful entrepreneur, or you may self-nominate. To find out more about the nomination process and Entrepreneur of the Year program, please contact Sally Collins on Tel: +61 2 8295 6424 or go to the website. View a short video of highlights from the SEP at http://www.youtube.com/user/cieunsw UNSW Inventor of the Year Awards Presented annually by NewSouth Innovations, the UNSW Inventor of the Year Awards recognise and reward inventors that are making the world a better place. Boasting a total cash prize pool of $28,000, the awards are open to UNSW academics and students who are commercialising their research with NewSouth Innovations, the university’s commercialisation company. This year’s awards will introduce a new Student Inventor of the Year category and a category to recognise the Best New Invention. NewSouth Innovations annually receives in the order of 100 new Intellectual Property Notifications (IPNs). These are the starting point for commercialising new inventions that can make a positive impact on the world. All IPNs submitted in the 12 months to 30 June 2010 will automatically be entered for the IPN award. For competition details and to see 2009’s Inventor of the Year finalists and winners visit: http://www.nsinnovations.com.au Dell Small Business Awards Dell announced its call for entries for the global 2010 Dell Small Business Excellence Award. In its second year in Australia, the award gives small businesses that apply technology in innovative ways to better serve customers a chance to win up to US$50,000 in Dell solutions and meeting time with Michael Dell. Enter the competition here. Social Endeavour Prize The Social Endeavour Prize has been moved to the Centre for Social Impact (CSI), located just upstairs from the CIE. The competition involves team of students and not-for-profit organisations outlining innovative and creative strategies to raise funds. Students will benefit from exposure to real organisations in the not-for-profit sector. Organisations will benefit from fresh and energetic students bringing their ideas and talents to their institutions. CSI is currently holding discussions with interested organisations about the competition and its timing later this year. If you have any input please contact Anne Measday on +61 (2) 9385 9897 or a.measday@unsw.edu.au. Third year running for Entrepreneurship Interns Program (EIP) A very successful third year of the EIP was run this summer where 12 students in their penultimate year partook in paid internships with fast-growing companies. These included ATP innovations, Better Place Australia, BMDI Healthcare, Heard Systems, News Limited, NICTA, Personal Audio, ResMed and Roses Only. The highly competitive program reduced 693 invited students, to a short list of 22, who competed for 12 positions. As part of their internship students shadowed proven entrepreneurs, gaining valuable insights to salesmanship, opportunity analysis, financial literacy, and personal leadership. A documentary about their experiences can be found on the CIE website. In the coming weeks, the Academic Board at UNSW will make a decision on our proposal to move the Undergraduate Diploma in Innovation Management from the Entrepreneurs in Science unit to the School of Strategy & Entrepreneurship. Once re-launched, the students will be offered internship opportunities for credit towards their diploma. In the meanwhile, the CIE will continue the existing EIP in parallel with a pilot internship program that will become the Diploma version. New this year: There is no fee to participate in the EIP, other than the intern’s wages. If your company is able to take an Intern for summer 2010/11, please contact us for more information. ................................................................................................ Sponsors We are pleased to confirm AusIndustry, Ernst & Young, NewSouth Innovations and RosesOnly as sponsors of the CIE. Likewise, we would like to thank Peter Farrell and Gary Zamel for their generous donations. Their continued support helps provide the means to host networking events, award prizes, and reimburse our suppliers and service providers. In exchange, our sponsors receive good karma and public recognition as supporters of innovation and entrepreneurship. If your firm is keen to engage with UNSW students, faculty and alumni, and our members from industry, please contact us. ................................................................................................ 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CIE Newsletter, November 2009 (repost)

As we move our newsletters and updates to a blog format, we are also reposting the old newsletters so we don't completely lose them. Pardon the formatting.

Quarterly Newsletter - November 2009 Dear Subscriber, There is one public event left on the CIE 2009 calendar which you should not miss – this is the Peter Farrell Challenge Cup Finals. More than two hundred students and fifty one teams from UNSW and Macquarie Universities have spent the last month putting together business plans for commercialising their own ideas, or someone else’s.The eight finalist teams will present their proposals on campus on November 19. In this newsletter, you will find news, links to information and registration for events, and in the ‘entrepreneur’s corner’ section, I will share some thoughts on a question which frequently comes to my mind, that is - ‘Are successful entrepreneurs born or created?’  Entrepreneur’s Corner – CIE Director's thoughts to consider  Corporate and Campus announcements – recent activities which may interest you  Upcoming events – Dates for your diary Wishing you all the best in business for the rest of 2009. . Entrepreneur’s Corner Are successful entrepreneurs born or created? By Christopher Witt, CIE Director. An age old question, this is. We have all read the stories – where the son of the Scion goes on to trump the father in business achievement. Think of Kerry Packer, and the achievements of the “idiot son” in surpassing father Frank in business dimensions. Born or created? Think of Rupert Murdoch, and his building of a global news empire on the back of inheriting a provincial newspaper based in Adelaide, left to him at a young age after the pre-mature death of his father. Born or created? Think of penniless immigrant Richard Pratt coming to Australia. Over 50 years he built a packaging empire on the back of hard work and sacrifice. Born or created? Or is there an aura of circumstance involved? Luck even? Below the headlines, romantic fantasy and urban myths are often trotted out to explain such results. Populist authors and pundits reach for convenient explanations. Attributional bias They say “winners write the history books.” Thus, the bias exists that every success story will hold an indelible truth. Yet the academic and anecdotal research suggests multiple underlying causes for entrepreneurial success. Consider this: entrepreneurship born of necessity, as distinct from opportunity seeking. The conventional wisdom is that business success stories emanate from opportunity seeking entirely. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, a global study covering 42 countries including Australia, reports that businesses founded to pursue opportunity are 7 times more frequent in number than those founded out of necessity. There also appears to be a strong correlation with age, with opportunity seeking business formation reducing with age. Yet the fact remains: out of every one hundred new businesses founded today, in ten years time only three will still be open for business. Skill versus Passion Much has been written of the sources for entrepreneurial advantage, be they personality characteristics, family connections, or learnt skills. At the Centre for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, our initial premise begins with a view that passion often drives opportunity seeking, yet skills form a foundation to maintain operational integrity and minimise risk. And it is such skills to quickly re-assess business situations with new information that distinguish serial entrepreneurs from others. It is precisely this risk profile that is frequently misunderstood by observers. The popular mythology has it that entrepreneurs are risk-seeking. Yet, observational research suggests successful entrepreneurs are in fact risk-averse agents of opportunity. They intensely manage risk to maintain exposures to levels that can be tolerated, and to kill off poorly performing ideas earlier than others. Decisiveness is the key. Hence skills development is an important contributor to routine management capability, while aptitude appears to drive decision making, commitment and team building at those inflexion points. In other words, passion leads to decisive strategic action, while skills can keep the train on the rails. Timely matters more than perfect Yet Man is still a creature of the animal kingdom, and emotion plays a considerable part at critical decision points. Research has repeatedly shown that timely decisions – but based on less information –frequently generate equal or better results, than delayed but more fully analysed decision making. This probably reflects Man’s instinctive learning capability, and our adaptive skills to transpose one set of circumstances (known) over another situation (unknown), and in effect, make good “educated guesses.” Another fascinating fact: Man frequently over-estimates the pain of a possible mistake. And then under-estimates the ability and time needed to correct that same mistake. This leads to dwelling on failures, and hesitancy in commitments. Not a great entrepreneurial strategy! No doubt emotional intelligence – or the lack thereof – has been a contributor to otherwise good businesses coming unglued. Think One-Tel, and its expansion into building a multi-billion dollar telecoms network, on the back of initial success as a re-selling operation. Hubris can have a poisonous effect on the entrepreneur’s ability to process contradictory information running against the grain of their accepted wisdom. Mentoring and modelling of behaviours have been shown to strongly influence on coping skills for leaders. The CIE devotes considerable effort to provide quality time to network and learn informally from practioners. As a pilot trains heavily in a simulated environment, so might we train entrepreneurs through experiential learning, and deep interaction with serial entrepreneurs? Consider this - and decide to decide on at least one pending item in your in-box - today. Corporate and Campus Events & Announcements 12 November - National Awards Ceremony Entrepreneurs create many of the world’s most dynamic and successful companies. That’s why Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur Of The Year is considered the world’s most prestigious business award - because it goes to the most exceptional from among a unique group of people. The 2009 Australian Entrepreneur Of The Year program is underway and category winners have been chosen across five regional awards programs. These regional winners will now progress to the national program for the title of 2009 Australian Entrepreneur Of The Year, announced at the national awards ceremony on November 12. UNSW student attends SIFE World Cup in Germany Students in Free Enterprise, (SIFE), are a global organisation that enables students to lead social change through business. Earlier this year Bernise was awarded 'The Most Outstanding SIFE Member' in Australia after leading a project to assist indigenous communities become financially independent. Read More Here “It is not just about raising money, but about innovation - embracing entrepreneurship as a way to identify problems and find practical ways to solve them.” said Bernise. Recently, Bernise attended the SIFE World Cup which showcased the outcomes of community outreach programs globally. Westmead Children’s Hospital implement Fundraising idea The winners of the Social Endeavour Prize, students Iris Qi, Megan Dunne and Aldo Claparols, implemented their fundraising idea this month. Children at the hospital were asked to draw a picture in response to the question “What makes you happy?” The winning design pictured will be featured on T-shirts available for sale. Proceeds from the merchandise will go to Westmead Children’s Hospital. Read more here View a short video of highlights from the SEP at http://www.youtube.com/user/cieunsw 19th November - The Peter Farrell Challenge Cup Finals Presentations and Dinner Sponsored by AusIndustry and Better Place Australia. Peter Farrell, Resmed, initiated this business planning competition in 2005. Alan Finkel, Chief Techonology Officer of Better Place Australia will be our keynoter speaker. Alan will outline the gamble BTA are making to develop smart electric cars in urban areas globally. Eight teams will be selected to present in the finals held on the 19th November. The competition boasts cash and prizes totaling $15,000 which will be presented following the presentations at the Awards Dinner. Finalist Competition (Public is welcome): Where: Richie Theater, Scientia, UNSW When: 5pm, Finish by 7pm Awards Dinner (Payment and Registration is Required): Where: Tyree Room, Scientia, UNSW When: 7 for 7.30pm, Finish by 10pm To attend the Awards Dinner Register Here If your firm is keen to engage with UNSW CIE, then please contact us. ©CIE UNSW, Christopher Witt

CIE Newsletter, April 2009 (repost)

As we move our newsletters and updates to a blog format, we are also reposting the old newsletters so we don't completely lose them. Pardon the formatting.

Quarterly Newsletter - April 2009 Dear subscriber, Happy Easter to you, and we hope this message finds you well and taking active steps to manage your future. In this first newsletter of 2009, you will find:  Entrepreneur’s Corner – a new feature column with commentary on current events  Coming Events – Dates for your diary  Announcements – Related activities or organisations that may interest you  Corporate Engagement Opportunities – invitations for your company to get involved .............................................................................................................................................. Entrepreneur’s Corner The phone has not stopped ringing in recent months with questions from entrepreneurs concerning “what should I do?” So beginning this quarter we launch a regular feature called “Entrepreneur’s Corner”. We hope you find this column stimulating, & unembellished in nature. Thought 1: There is “good debt”, and there is “bad debt”. Good debt is taken on to purchase assets and fund expenses for a cluster of activity, be it a new store, production plant, research & development or to find a growth strategy. Let’s term this an “activity cluster” as that suggests the linking of capital, revenues and expenses that form a pooled unit. There is an expectation for this activity to produce revenues and cash flows within a prescribed period of time, and this is termed a Return on Investment. Bad debt is that taken on to fund operating cash flows, usually in a pooled environment, where the link between the debt and any investment in an activity cluster is lost. Often it creeps upward, and takes the form of leases, expanding lines of credit, staff costs or even personal Director-tied debt. There is generally little accounting of the returns brought through this debt. Funding your operations via growing credit reflects a poorly performing business at work. That is, operations are not producing cash & profits. And expenses are being paid by drawing on credit sources. Hence, there is an operating deficit underneath the surface, whether the accounts show this or not. It is essential that entrepreneurs are brutally honest in distinguishing between good & bad debt, and not kid themselves. Too often companies form the view that things are fine, as long as there is cash in the bank. They blur the lines between true cash, and lines of credit. As long as the lines of credit flow, there is little urgency to address the growing cracks in the underlying business performance. But the party comes to an abrupt halt, when the debt music stops flowing. And that can be extremely painful if not catastrophic. This is analogous to “Honey, let’s go out to eat tonight, we still have credit on the credit card.” In contrast to forming a conscious view of how much the house hold is saving, and deciding to consume some savings via a dining experience. Likewise, businesses need to budget for a profit – and make those discretionary decisions to forego profits for an investment in a future activity cluster with an expected ROI. Thought 2: There is “good business”, and there is “bad business”. Can you specify the assets, employees, revenues, expenses and profits/cash flows that accrue to your “activity clusters”? Do you know which are your most profitable products, projects, stores, or customers? Do you know which ones lose money for you? Have you fired a customer lately, or declined new business, as the terms were unfavourable? These are all signs of a healthier business, and stronger management style. In numerous businesses we have worked with recently, the discussion has focused on pruning the edges wisely. This begins with quality information to track where your profits/cash come from, and where the losses arise. Many businesses have untracked cross-subsidies embedded in them. As you consider cost cutting, we encourage you to prune based on “activity cluster” – choose to discontinue a product, project, store, or drop customers where they are not a healthy long term basis for both supplier and customer. If needed, raise prices to affect a profitable product. Explain this to your customers that if you don’t, you will need to discontinue the business. Honest communication can make or break you on this point. Likewise, act with a clear collections policy. The use of EFT, Credit Cards and Accounts needs to be revisited. Customers that don’t pay in a timely fashion represent poor business. So use discounts, perhaps 2%, for customers who sign up for timely automatic EFT payment. And raise prices for those activities that are unprofitable, or else drop them and the assets, employees associated with them. Poor quality cost cutting strategies look like across the board cuts to marketing. Or dropping the use of contractors, but not changing the mix of your business activities to align with profitable operations. Thought 3: Will the Government’s $42 billion economic rescue represent “good debt”? We have no issue with taking on good debt by Governments to build assets that will generate dividends for future generations. Examples of such investments might be building dams, bridges, roads, rail/port facilities. The proposed subsidy for insulation in homes to reduce power usage will pay for itself quickly for households that take up the offer. After the Depression the Government built the Snowy Hydro Scheme for multiple purposes including irrigation of vast tracts of new farm land, protection against drought, and peak power generation. It is a legacy asset of immeasurable wealth to the nation. Likewise, the announced National Broadband Network proposes to establish core national infrastructure to boost productivity and international competitiveness. There are doubts about the ability to generate sufficient returns on such a sizeable investment, which could result in taxpayers effectively footing any shortfall. But like many infrastructure deals such as airports, ports, etc, there are in-built subsidies as well. Yet, no doubt the national competitive posture will be improved, and other nations are making similar commitments. In the current funding climate, it is clear the government is the best positioned party to lead such a commitment. On a basic level, the underlying economic issue at work has been insufficient savings, over-consumption, and a reliance on asset inflation to generate equity, which is then periodically withdrawn to pay off excessive debts. This has been a foundation with widening cracks. It appears that the only way out of this is through frugality, savings, debt reduction and – gradually – repairing balance sheets over time. There are theoretical economic arguments for stimulating consumption, but the historical evidence appears to show that government stimuli have been to no avail. Japan had 8 major stimulus programs in the 1990’s, without measurable results. Other empirical studies seem to echo this point as well. In fact, Governments only ever act in an economic support role, as John Howard recently admitted to a Journalist. One criterion for Government investment would be for expenditures to provide a similar (to the Snowy Scheme) tangible long term return in proportion to the investment value made. The provision of cash handouts, simply ends up shifting wealth from today (surplus Govt funds) to a small number of individuals (who will save or consume), at the expense of future generations (our children) to repay. We may come to rue leaving our children with extraordinary debts to pay but few matching assets to show for it. .............................................................................................................................................. Upcoming Events Schedule May 5 Event Info Let's Talk Business When: Tuesday May 5, 2009 Where: Customs House Barnet Long Room, 31 Alfred St., Circular Quay Assess your business health in this hands-on session. Analyse key indicators, gain perspective and take action - find out more here. May 21 - Social Endeavour Prize Finals Competition Night Where: K-Power, 271 Sussex Street, Sydney City Time: 5-8pm May 27 - Meet The Entrepreneur: Managing in a Maelstrom Place: 680 George Street, Ernst & Young Sydney City Offices Time: 5:30 for 6pm Start, Until 8pm Come hear an exciting panel debate in hypothetical format, featuring a moderator led discussion with three seasoned entrepreneurs as they share their coping & success strategies for managing in the current climate. Numbers are strictly limited – register today to secure your spot. .............................................................................................................................................. Announcements Ernst & Young – Entrepreneur of the Year Awards Do you know an outstanding entrepreneur? Ernst & Young is now searching for outstanding entrepreneurs from around Australia who embody the values and spirit of the Entrepreneur Of The Year program. Nominations can be submitted by anyone associated with a successful entrepreneur, or you may self-nominate. To find out more about the nomination process and Entrepreneur Of The Year program, please contact Sally Collins on Tel: +61 2 8295 6424 or go to the website. Dell Small Business Awards Dell today announced its call for entries for the global 2009 Dell Small Business Excellence Award. In its second year in Australia, the award gives small businesses that apply technology in innovative ways to better serve customers a chance to win up to US$50,000 in Dell solutions and meeting time with Michael Dell. Enter the Dell Small Business Excellence Awards here. Social Endeavour Prize New to UNSW this year is the Social Endeavour Prize. This competition is for student teams (paired up with a host charity) to generate innovative and creative strategies to fundraise. Think “red Nose Day” or “Red Shield Appeal.” Students will benefit from exposure to real charities and the not-for-profit sector. Charities will benefit from fresh and energetic students bringing their ideas and talents to their institutions. Participating charities will be the big winners of this competition – in addition to all money raised, the charity will have the winning students volunteer for a week to implement their ideas! The motivations for entry are many – help a worthy cause, get creative, receive recognition and of course, win prize money. 1st Prize: $4000 2nd prize: $3000 3rd prize: $1000 Expressions of interest for Teams will close on April 23rd. Go here for more information. .............................................................................................................................................. Second year running for Entrepreneurship Interns Program A very successful pilot Internship program was run this summer where nine students in their penultimate year partook in paid internships with fast-growing companies. These included ResMed, Brasserie Bread, Harris Farm Markets, Worley Parsons, NICTA, ATP Innovations, and Monkey Steel. The highly competitive program reduced 375 invited students, to a short list of 18, who competed for 9 positions. Students shadowed proven entrepreneurs, gaining valuable insights to salesmanship, opportunity analysis, financial literacy, and personal leadership. A documentary is being filmed about their experiences, and will screen on TV in June. If your company is able to take an Intern for summer 2009/10, please contact us for more information. .............................................................................................................................................. New Sponsors We are pleased to confirm Ernst & Young, AusIndustry, and Spruson & Ferguson as corporate partners of the CIE. Other new sponsors of the CIE include Brasserie Bread, Vasse Felix Wines, and Roses Only. If your firm is keen to engage with UNSW CIE, then please contact us. ©CIE UNSW, Christopher Witt ..............................................................................................................................................

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