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Student
Project Creates a ‘Buzz’
The
University of Manitoba prides itself on providing a world-class
education to many of Canada’s best and brightest students. Four
of our students in the past five years have been presented with
a Rhodes Scholarship, making us the top recipient of this prestigious
award in Western Canada.
What
started out as a class project is evolving into a real-life venture
for three students in the Faculty of Management. Joel Lemoine,
Lindsay Robinson and Brandi Smith teamed together
in their New Venture Analysis class for a project that entailed
creating a new business and writing a business plan. Competing against
other teams in the class, their proposed venture, Alfa-B Pollination
Services Inc., was named the winner. The business, which they plan
to launch in 2001, will lease leaf-cutter bees to Manitoba farmers
looking to improve the yield of their alfalfa seed crops. The group’s
research found that by using bees to pollinate alfalfa, the average
number of pounds of seed per acre increased from 80 to 350. With
the idea and research in hand, they went on to develop a winning
business plan for the service.
Dressing
in black suits with yellow dress shirts, the students have since
gone on to win other venture competitions including the Canadian
Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship competition, the
Young President’s Organization Annual Business Plan Award and the
Enterprise Creation Competition, the latter based at Oxford University
in Miami, Ohio.
U
Fact: 169,993 students
have graduated from the University of Manitoba during its 123-year
history. Of the known living graduates, 67,128 live in Manitoba. |
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