Education Partnerships
Leadership Development, Service Learning & Entrepreneurship
Memorial University
Memorial University
Memorial Centre for Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurial Work Terms/Internships
The Memorial Centre for Entrepreneurship (MCE) inspires and enables aspiring entrepreneurs at MUN, offering entrepreneurial students foundational training, encouragement, guidance, access to funding and connections to create high-growth businesses. The program allows students to spend a semester working full-time on their idea while receiving personalized start-up coaching, peer support, and a bursary. Students enrolled in an Entrepreneurial Work Term attend the MCE workshops, the Evolution program at Genesis, the Y-Combinator Startup School, and the incubator of the Centre for Social Enterprise. The entrepreneurial work terms and internships are unique and experiential learning experiences that allow students to advance essential entrepreneurial thinking skills to form future leaders with a specific focus on problem-solving, tolerance with ambiguity, failing forward, empathy, creativity with limited resources, responding to critical feedback and teamwork approach. This is leadership in action.
Fry Family Foundation committed to the provision of funds to support 10 entrepreneurial internships in 2021 which was leveraged by MCE to create 21 internships. This financial support was renewed in 2022.
The Memorial Centre for Entrepreneurship (MCE) inspires and enables aspiring entrepreneurs at MUN, offering entrepreneurial students foundational training, encouragement, guidance, access to funding and connections to create high-growth businesses. The program allows students to spend a semester working full-time on their idea while receiving personalized start-up coaching, peer support, and a bursary. Students enrolled in an Entrepreneurial Work Term attend the MCE workshops, the Evolution program at Genesis, the Y-Combinator Startup School, and the incubator of the Centre for Social Enterprise. The entrepreneurial work terms and internships are unique and experiential learning experiences that allow students to advance essential entrepreneurial thinking skills to form future leaders with a specific focus on problem-solving, tolerance with ambiguity, failing forward, empathy, creativity with limited resources, responding to critical feedback and teamwork approach. This is leadership in action.
Fry Family Foundation committed to the provision of funds to support 10 entrepreneurial internships in 2021 which was leveraged by MCE to create 21 internships. This financial support was renewed in 2022.
Diversity Incentive Awards
In 2022 MCE is aiming to increase participation for women and non-binary students at its annual startup competition, The Mel Woodward Cup. Two new awards which are funded by FFF, also support the Foundation's focus on leadership development in NL. Paul Burt, FFF President stated, "We strive to encourage students to become tomorrow’s great leaders, and entrepreneurship is one avenue through which they can achieve this.” Read more in Unlocking Entrepreneurship - MCE steps up recruitment of women and non-binary students.
The following two new incentives to women and non-binary applicants were established in 2022:
In 2022 MCE is aiming to increase participation for women and non-binary students at its annual startup competition, The Mel Woodward Cup. Two new awards which are funded by FFF, also support the Foundation's focus on leadership development in NL. Paul Burt, FFF President stated, "We strive to encourage students to become tomorrow’s great leaders, and entrepreneurship is one avenue through which they can achieve this.” Read more in Unlocking Entrepreneurship - MCE steps up recruitment of women and non-binary students.
The following two new incentives to women and non-binary applicants were established in 2022:
- An Entrepreneurship Award for Women or Non-binary Leadership to the most promising idea led by a woman or non-binary student. For a team, a woman or non-binary student co-founder needs to be the CEO and at least 50% of the team needs to be women or non-binary student co-founders. If the startup is under an incorporated business (which is not required for this competition), women or non-binary student co-founders need to own at least 50% of the company.
- An Entrepreneurship Award for an Early-stage Idea to a non-finalist team who has a promising startup idea and individual/team but needs a little more work to be in a position to win the Mel Woodward Cup. This will encourage students, and especially women, to apply to the competition even if their idea is very early.
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The inaugural recipients include PragmaClin Research and Cannaby. PragmaClin was awarded the FFF Entrepreneurship Award for Women and Non-binary Leadership and also won the top prize in the Mel Woodward Cup Competition for a software that provides motor and non-motor assessments for people with Parkinson’s disease. The company’s co-founders are Pharmacy PhD student Bronwyn Bridges, along with entrepreneur and Parkinson’s patient Gord Genge. Cannaby received the FFF Entrepreneurship Award for an Early-stage Idea. The company was founded by Master of Science student Laura Mateo and partner Saioa Arrizabalaga, and aims to educate users on safe cannabis consumption through a customizable dosage calculator.
Forty-three teams applied to the competition this year, the highest number of applicants to date! Read more about the 2022 Mel Woodward Cup and our recipients in Startup Support. Watch a video explaining how PragmaClin could help Parkinson's patients in Winning N.L. startup develops software for {Parkinson's testing and treatment. |
Solvers Program Pilot
In 2022, MCE is also piloting a new program called Solvers to connect industry professionals with entrepreneurial students to find technological solutions to real-world business problems. Through a solution exploration project, industry experts are matched with entrepreneurial work term/internship students to explore the market potential and develop an initial product/service to address the problem/opportunity the industry expert has identified. If the problem and solution secured some early validation at the end of the project, then they have the opportunity to incorporate a startup team together. We believe that Solvers can dramatically increase the quality of student startups at Memorial, leveraging the network of Memorial alumni all over the world. The project to help develop Newfoundland and Labrador's next high-growth startup is supported by a donation from the Fry Family Foundation. Read more in The Next Verafin?
In 2022, MCE is also piloting a new program called Solvers to connect industry professionals with entrepreneurial students to find technological solutions to real-world business problems. Through a solution exploration project, industry experts are matched with entrepreneurial work term/internship students to explore the market potential and develop an initial product/service to address the problem/opportunity the industry expert has identified. If the problem and solution secured some early validation at the end of the project, then they have the opportunity to incorporate a startup team together. We believe that Solvers can dramatically increase the quality of student startups at Memorial, leveraging the network of Memorial alumni all over the world. The project to help develop Newfoundland and Labrador's next high-growth startup is supported by a donation from the Fry Family Foundation. Read more in The Next Verafin?