UVic presents: The five-dollar entrepreneur

Students who are enrolled in UVic’s Summer Entrepreneurship Program have just completed a difficult assignment: to launch a money-making business in 10 days with just five dollars.

“This experiential program element really gets student’s attention,” says Dr. Brock Smith, one of the four program instructors. “For most students it’s their first entrepreneurial experience—it demystifies entrepreneurship and shows students that they can be entrepreneurs. Counting out thousands of dollars of profit in front of class gets everyone’s attention. Those that didn’t make that much want to learn how to do it, those that did make a lot of money want to make more.”

The five BCom students who comprise Fresh Look Car Detailing will take first prize this year after parlaying their capital into $1,696.16 in just 10 days. The students made the money by picking up their clients’ cars at work, cleaning the cars both inside and out, and then delivering them back to their clients’ offices. Past student ‘innovation projects’ include selling original art to businesses to hang in their lobbies, providing digital pictures for B&Bs to use on their Web sites, and creating a calendar and distributing it to area high school grads.

The innovation project is sponsored by Peter Thomas, the founder of Century 21 Realty, and is just one of the elements of UVic’s award winning entrepreneurship program. The program was awarded the Academy of Management’s Innovation in Entrepreneurship Pedagogy Award (1999) and the US Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Award for Best Undergraduate Program (2000).

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