Description
With this detailed outline relating to the online venture challenge innovation in entrepreneurship pedagogy and for charities.
1
NEWS RELEASE – COMMUNIQUÉ
For immediate publication
The Online Venture Challenge:
Innovation in Entrepreneurship Pedagogy and $ for Charities
Ottawa, December 23, 2015
A new entrepreneurship project combining online platform, real-life project,
partnerships, engaged professor and Sprott School of Business students’ enthusiasm
provides $4,700 in profits going to local charities.
During Fall 2015, assistant professor Diane Isabelle, PhD, was determined to provide
students with a real-life entrepreneurship experience. BUSI2800 (Entrepreneurship) is a
course open to all; therefore there is quite a diversity of programs and expertise in the
classroom. Searching for an online gamified platform, Diane came across the concept
of the Venture Challenge and decided to pilot it during Fall 2015 at Carleton University.
In this experiential approach, student teams conceive a new business idea for a not-for-
profit mission-driven e-commerce venture that runs for 30 days to raise money for a
selected charity organization. Students are running real businesses, selling real
products and services to real customers through an online store. Since the Venture
Challenge is in partnership with Shopify, student teams can set up their business very
efficiently as a streamlined process guides them through launching their online store
with no technical skills required.
During Fall 2015, the class created 22 venture teams who ran a wide range of
businesses. The businesses were active for the month of November and together
served nearly 700 customers, raising $18,700 in revenues with $4,700 in profits going to
local charities. The results surpassed all expectations. Diane was very impressed with
the creativity and dedication of the students to this exercise. They experienced every
aspect of conceiving and running a small business. They also developed awareness
about social entrepreneurship.
2
The best team, Vesi Bottles sold nearly $2,500 worth of glass water bottles sandblasted
with custom messages, predominantly targeted at the millennials market, and pulled in
about $1,400 in profits that were donated to the Ottawa Humane Society. The second
team, Groceries2Go, created a grocery shopping and delivery service for Carleton
students. They generated $3,300 in revenues, the highest among the teams.
Developed by Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia, the online Venture
Challenge takes students through the entire entrepreneurial process, from the idea
stage to launching and running the business, with the help of built-in learning resources
and a gamified platform that includes a class leaderboard. Students learn about
ideation, product development, marketing, sales, cash management, e-commerce,
social media and more.
This project is a low risk experiential learning experience that provides concrete
knowledge and skills in new venture creation. An additional innovative aspect is the
extensive online learning resources and tasks so that students can acquire crucial skills
in the business management of popular social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook,
Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google Adwords and Google Analytics,
Facebook Ads, and social metrics to promote, sell and monitor effectiveness of
marketing campaigns and offerings. These skills are in high demand with employers.
Carleton University is currently the only Ontario university piloting this experiential
learning approach to entrepreneurship.
Feedback from the students has been very positive, even though the challenge required
an intense and sustained effort from the teams. A research project is in the works to
assess the impact of this entrepreneurship education approach on entrepreneurial
intentions and behaviors, and also link to research on social entrepreneurship.
About Sprott School of Business, Carleton University – Entrepreneurship
At the Sprott School of Business, our philosophy for entrepreneurship offerings is for our
students to ‘Live entrepreneurship, not just learn about it’. BUSI2800 is part of the
Bachelor in Commerce (Entrepreneurship concentration) and Minor in
Entrepreneurship, and is open to other academic programs.
http://www.sprott.carleton.ca
About SCSE/CSES
The SCSE/CSES mission is to advance the field of social enterprises through
knowledge development and knowledge dissemination. The project is an example of
activities combining streams of research (social entrepreneurship, charities) and
providing education in social enterprises to students.
http://www.sprott.carleton.ca/scse-cses Twitter@SCSE_CSES
- 30 -
For information:
Diane A. Isabelle, PhD, Assistant professor, Global entrepreneurship
Sprott School of Business, Carleton University
[email protected] Twitter@SprottENT
doc_671915819.pdf
With this detailed outline relating to the online venture challenge innovation in entrepreneurship pedagogy and for charities.
1
NEWS RELEASE – COMMUNIQUÉ
For immediate publication
The Online Venture Challenge:
Innovation in Entrepreneurship Pedagogy and $ for Charities
Ottawa, December 23, 2015
A new entrepreneurship project combining online platform, real-life project,
partnerships, engaged professor and Sprott School of Business students’ enthusiasm
provides $4,700 in profits going to local charities.
During Fall 2015, assistant professor Diane Isabelle, PhD, was determined to provide
students with a real-life entrepreneurship experience. BUSI2800 (Entrepreneurship) is a
course open to all; therefore there is quite a diversity of programs and expertise in the
classroom. Searching for an online gamified platform, Diane came across the concept
of the Venture Challenge and decided to pilot it during Fall 2015 at Carleton University.
In this experiential approach, student teams conceive a new business idea for a not-for-
profit mission-driven e-commerce venture that runs for 30 days to raise money for a
selected charity organization. Students are running real businesses, selling real
products and services to real customers through an online store. Since the Venture
Challenge is in partnership with Shopify, student teams can set up their business very
efficiently as a streamlined process guides them through launching their online store
with no technical skills required.
During Fall 2015, the class created 22 venture teams who ran a wide range of
businesses. The businesses were active for the month of November and together
served nearly 700 customers, raising $18,700 in revenues with $4,700 in profits going to
local charities. The results surpassed all expectations. Diane was very impressed with
the creativity and dedication of the students to this exercise. They experienced every
aspect of conceiving and running a small business. They also developed awareness
about social entrepreneurship.
2
The best team, Vesi Bottles sold nearly $2,500 worth of glass water bottles sandblasted
with custom messages, predominantly targeted at the millennials market, and pulled in
about $1,400 in profits that were donated to the Ottawa Humane Society. The second
team, Groceries2Go, created a grocery shopping and delivery service for Carleton
students. They generated $3,300 in revenues, the highest among the teams.
Developed by Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia, the online Venture
Challenge takes students through the entire entrepreneurial process, from the idea
stage to launching and running the business, with the help of built-in learning resources
and a gamified platform that includes a class leaderboard. Students learn about
ideation, product development, marketing, sales, cash management, e-commerce,
social media and more.
This project is a low risk experiential learning experience that provides concrete
knowledge and skills in new venture creation. An additional innovative aspect is the
extensive online learning resources and tasks so that students can acquire crucial skills
in the business management of popular social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook,
Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google Adwords and Google Analytics,
Facebook Ads, and social metrics to promote, sell and monitor effectiveness of
marketing campaigns and offerings. These skills are in high demand with employers.
Carleton University is currently the only Ontario university piloting this experiential
learning approach to entrepreneurship.
Feedback from the students has been very positive, even though the challenge required
an intense and sustained effort from the teams. A research project is in the works to
assess the impact of this entrepreneurship education approach on entrepreneurial
intentions and behaviors, and also link to research on social entrepreneurship.
About Sprott School of Business, Carleton University – Entrepreneurship
At the Sprott School of Business, our philosophy for entrepreneurship offerings is for our
students to ‘Live entrepreneurship, not just learn about it’. BUSI2800 is part of the
Bachelor in Commerce (Entrepreneurship concentration) and Minor in
Entrepreneurship, and is open to other academic programs.
http://www.sprott.carleton.ca
About SCSE/CSES
The SCSE/CSES mission is to advance the field of social enterprises through
knowledge development and knowledge dissemination. The project is an example of
activities combining streams of research (social entrepreneurship, charities) and
providing education in social enterprises to students.
http://www.sprott.carleton.ca/scse-cses Twitter@SCSE_CSES
- 30 -
For information:
Diane A. Isabelle, PhD, Assistant professor, Global entrepreneurship
Sprott School of Business, Carleton University
[email protected] Twitter@SprottENT
doc_671915819.pdf