Too busy to tell you about what we're busy with

Oh, the irony. We are so busy organizing and coordinating events, that we're too busy to stop for a minute, invite the larger community to upcoming events or draft summaries and press releases about what just happened. by and large our online communication falls into 4 categories:

• Events sponsored by the CIE (handled using constant contact & our email lists)
• News of CIE related initiatives (handled using this blog)
• Events by associated organizations (handled using google calendar)
• News from associated organizations (handled by twitter) 

Each of these channels produces it's own RSS feed, each of which can by 'burned' to daily email digests using Google's feedburner too.

For the last couple months, we have been providing the links to these tools separately (i.e. follow us on twitter, but not google calendar or constant contact; or follow the blog, but not the other channels).

This is just plain confusing. As a result, we aggregated the four RSS feeds into one (using google reader), and burned it to a daily email digest (using feedburner).

To receive an individual RSS update of everything that we (re-)broadcast, please use this link:

•  http://feeds.feedburner.com/all_cie_unsw?format=xml

To receive a daily digest email between 1200-1300 of everything that we (re-)broadcast, please use this link:

•  http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=all_cie_unsw

(If you are on our constant contact email list you will continue to receive personal invitations for events sponsored by the CIE)

Here is a screenshot example of one of our recent daily email digests:

CIE Newsletter (Spring 2010 edition)

In this issue: :: Entrepreneur's Notebook :: Entrepreneurial Internship Program :: Entrepreneurs' Confidence Barometer :: Diploma in Innovation Management :: Upcoming Events   Welcome to CIE's emergence into the web2 era of communication! In addition to an updated homepage, we now have a more automatic way of subscribing to more frequent updates about news and events: Events: For real-time updates on new event announcements, please subscribe to the "events@cie" RSS feed or email service.  News: For real-time updates on all news, please subscribe to the "news@cie" RSS feed or email service. Since last April, the CIE has continued many of the existing programs with increasing momentum, and pursuing several new programs too. We also have a new Program Manager, Linda Glave, to help with the daily operations so Martin can dedicate a little more time to teaching and researching innovation and entrepreneurship in Australia.

Entrepreneur's Notebook Networks & Networking - Don't waste your time; invest it! by Dr Martin J Bliemel   Networks and networking are pretty hot topics these days. When exploring a new line of business, product, or market, networking is often a quick way to get rich feedback. I ran my own business consulting firm for a couple years, searched for clients and partners, and recently completed my PhD dissertation on the networks of entrepreneurs, so I feel the need to disseminate some of my observations. Setting aside my rant about the differences between networks, social networks, and online social networks, this column reviews two key things to consider before networking: ·   Is this the right network for me? ·   How should I use the opportunity to network? Which network is the right one? Networks (and organizations that facilitate networking events; example) range along a variety of variables. Some are more durable, and others more trendy. Some are more like a market, and others more like a clique. If you are prospecting for customers, why would you spend your time at an industry conference among all your competitors? If your business is relationships based, why would you network at conferences instead of pursuing individual referrals from your existing network? If you are looking to increase sales and want to 'spread the word', then yes, a shotgun approach to networking might be the best one. That might be by handing out more business cards than Darcy Rezac, through to blasting the news out there with all the new social media platforms. However, if you are looking for that needle in the haystack, and can clearly describe that needle to others, a more targeted search is more applicable. With a more targeted approach, you should approach specific people (for specific referrals). Social media platforms can still help, but work better if you prequalify who you contact, and address them directly. Just think of the last time you felt personally compelled to reply back to a "Dear Subscriber" message (ironic that this column should start that way, I know);, asking for something specific, other than selling you a product or service. Learn to think twice about which networking events to go to, and how to leverage them to your advantage (my second point, below). How to network For beginners, networking feels awkward at first, but can quickly become second nature. The basics include (i) having a business card, (ii) offering it somewhere toward the middle or end of your elevator pitch so it doesn't appear like you're liberally giving cards away, (iii) handing it over in a way that can be read easily (e.g. with two hands, card face up and oriented the right way), and (iv) respectfully reading the other person's card. The point I would like to emphasize here though is the elevator pitch. In particular I often see two areas in which networkers fall short of their potential: explicitly stating what value they provide, and what they are looking for. Regarding the value proposition, in addition to clearly stating your name, role, and who you work for, never assume people are familiar with the company or can extrapolate what services the company provides. Don't leave them guessing, and provide a simple, concise example of who a typical (or ideal) client looks like, and how you improve their business/life. A personal story of the impact you have on their business/life is way better than numbing statistics of how many products you sell and how many customers you have. Regarding what you are looking for, everyone is obviously looking for opportunities. Opportunities are ubiquitous, idiosyncratic and ambiguous. The first implication of your networking is that you are looking to drum up business. If however, you have other needs, it is perfectly ok to admit you are growing your business and looking for help. People have a natural tendency to help, IF they know they can and it does not come at a major cost to them. For example, after your elevator pitch, you might invite the other person to assist you in finding a better recruiting agency, or providing you a direct referral to a potential employee. Don't overwhelm them and ask for them to help you with all aspects of your business, just show a little humility and ask for ideas relating to a currently important or urgent issue you are dealing with. You may not get what you ask for, but you also don't get what you don't ask for. 3rd Year for the Entrepreneurial Internship Program   The Meet-and-Match event for CIE's Entrepreneurial Internship Program was our biggest ever!  A "short"-list of 30 Honour's and Dean's List students competed for 12 spots with our industry partners.  But then, the partner companies were so blown away with the quality of students that 5 additional positions were created and offered on the spot! This year's partners are: Anittel Atlassian BMDI Healthcare Homestar Finance IPScape NICTA Pet Barn ResMed Telcoinabox Our congratulations to the students and to our partners for their efforts, and we can't wait to see the reports and posters at the March Wrap-Up event!  Entrepreneurs' Confidence Barometer  Entrepreneurs lead the way back to growth   A recent survey of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year alumni has found that 74% of respondents defied the market and grew their businesses in 2009, with 60% expecting to achieve double digit growth in calendar 2010. The Ernst & Young survey found that the respondents - some of Australia's most successful entrepreneurs - are increasingly confident about their business growth prospects, with 72% confident about the Australian economy in 2010 and 67% believing the availability of capital will improve in 2011. Seventy one percent expect to employ more people in the next 12 months, 62% plan to raise funds in the next 12 months and 68% plan to expand operations overseas. In addition, the entrepreneurs surveyed overwhelmingly agreed that passion, determination and vision are the key ingredients for success, with 80% believing that this has not changed in the past 10 years and will not change in the future. The survey respondents had started on average four businesses each, creating their first business at the average age of 25 and were motivated primarily by the desire to create a business, with wealth creation as a secondary driver. These are a few of the many findings contained in the 2010 Entrepreneurs' Confidence Barometer, a survey conducted to mark the 10th anniversary of the Entrepreneur Of The Year program in Australia. Ernst & Young partner Greg Logue says the responses illustrate that successful entrepreneurs are more than simply higher achievers. "They are the ones who seek out opportunities and turn their vision into reality, creating a flow-on success for those around them through employment, export growth and social contributions," says Logue. "The confidence and focus of these entrepreneurs is both inspiring and heartening - these are the people who continue to drive the economy forward and create the future." The survey findings also suggest that there is a greater appreciation of the contribution entrepreneurs make to our economy and communities. Fifty six percent of respondents believe the Australian culture supports entrepreneurship - a significant shift in attitude compared to a similar 2004 survey that found that only 38% of respondents held the same view. Diploma in Innovation Management  Now open to ALL UNSW undergraduate students!   The Diploma in Innovation Management has been successfully migrated from the Faculty of Science to the Australian School of Business. The Diploma is a unique undergraduate offering that is open to students of any Faculty, AND is taught by academics from various faculties, further supplemented by presentations and lectures from industry experts and government officials. Course material covers areas such as creativity in enterprises, business principles, business planning for new ventures, funding, management and commercialisation of intellectual property, and valuation and assessment of innovative businesses. Students engage in exercises to set up and run their own new ventures and participate in case studies with Australian and international entrepreneurs. The lectures, workshops, case studies and tutorials in each of the program's courses are delivered by a well-balanced mixture of university academics and expert industry and government professionals. Upcoming Events Meet the Entrepreneur: Ernst & Young   When:    Thursday 23 September Meet the Entrepreneur is a semi-annual event; this session's topic is CleanTech, and will be moderated by Dr Marc Newson, Partner Oceania Cleantech Leader, Ernst & Young. Click here to register by Thursday, 16 September Peter Farrell Cup - NEW website!! www.pfcup.com.au  The Peter Farrell Cup provides students with the opportunity to bring their innovative business idea to life by pitching to a panel of experts from the Sydney entrepreneurial community.  The competition is open to teams containing at least one currently-enrolled UNSW student.  Teams submit a business plan and finalists are selected to pitch their ideas live to the judging panel. Want to team up with a student to help you represent in the competition? Meet-Mix-Match Event - Tues 21 Sept Click here for details. Entrepreneur of the Year Award Join us to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year program in Australia!  This is the world's most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs and celebrates building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognising them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 135 cities in 50 countries.  Over the last decade, Ernst & Young has recognised the achievements of over 800 extraordinary business leaders in this country. Click here for details.

Sponsors We are currently seeking sponsors for Diploma Scholarships, internship opportunities, and the Peter Farrell Cup. If you are interested in being associated with these innovative initiatives in our newsletters, press releases, website, and at the event, please contact us. Sponsorship may be in the form of general sponsorship for the event (cash or in-kind), or by sponsoring a student intern at your organization. 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.

SIFE UNSW Newsletter and projects

SIFE UNSW recently had their AGM. I have to say this society (past and present) continues to impress me with the initiative, creativity, and professionalism they put into everything they do.

Here is a link to their newsletter: --link--

Check out the projects they have lined up, too:

• Ricky Cheng for EcoActive (ricky.cheng@sifeunsw.org)
• Beatrice Cohen for Planet Hope (b.cohen@sifeunsw.org)
• Eric Hercog for Business IT Up (eric.hercog@sifeunsw.org)
• Tian Yao Whye for Indigenous Arts (tian.y.whye@sifeunsw.org)

PS: SIFE = Students In Free Entreprise)

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. ................................................................................................ Subscribe to CIE Newsletters To join the CIE community and receive future updates about events and newsletters, please email us at cie@unsw.edu.au and type subscribe in the subject box

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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