Professor O'Connell gets students and young entrepreneurs to put their heads together photo: Joseph Yarmush

The project conceived by Professor Tom O'Connell - who teaches seminars for YES's Start Your Own Business program and at Concordia University - came about because he noticed something lacking in both programs. "Despite giving [young entrepreneurs] a session on how to do market research, many of them didn't understand how it really works," says O'Connell. At the same time, business students have always had to prepare mock-up business plans as part of their program consistently, but seemed to lack enthusiasm when it came to this assignment. As O'Connell puts it, "Motivation was not that high because it was just for the purpose of academia, not a real-world setting."

At present there are seven student-business groups teamed up. To qualify as an entrepreneur for the program, the candidates must first fit the criteria set by YES, whose programs are only open to anglophones aged 18 to 35.

"It's really sort of a preliminary phase of a business plan," says Louise Anne Côté, director of the entrepreneurship program at YES Montreal. The entrepreneur is expected to be an active member of the group and they have to be willing to meet face to face with students three times over the semester, as well as participate in weekly e-mail updates.

"The students like it because it's real education for the real world," says O'Connell. "The students are really amazed at how the entrepreneurs intuitively understand business ideas and have a propensity to take action without doing in-depth research. [The entrepreneurs] realize that, in most cases, too much research can be detrimental - if you search long enough you find that every business idea doesn't really make sense."

The feedback so far has been fantastic according to both Côté and O'Connell, and though it's presently too early to have any hard data on the entrepreneurs' progress, wheels are already in motion for next semester.

For more information about Youth Employment Services Montreal, go to www.yesmontreal.ca.

 
 

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A Whole Lot Of Ambition, Just Say YES.......     New job seekers hitting the pavement each year is an exciting prospect. Sharp dressed, great ideas and little fear. After sitting in academia for what always seems like an extended period of time, diploma or degree fresh in hand, it can be daunting. Now, employers or angel investors, what do they see coming into their office? Inexperience, dreamy goals and plans coming out of the mouth of babes that haven't been tested against the marketplace with any degree of certainty. How can these new candidates be groomed to give them the inside scoop on what life inside the labour market really needs? How can these new apprentices look the part without having the experience, yet? Enter, the YES Program. Suddenly the candidate as access to what they need to know to feel confident in what they've been directed to ask for and to do. It levels the playing field and is relatively simple, and inexpensive to put in place. Business plans that have been scrutinized to death to give new business graduates an elevated chance at success. Brilliant.
Steve Landry	{50 votes}	November 25th, 2005
Ex-Student testimonial     As a student who took part in this project, I can say it is truly beneficial to both parties. On one hand the student gets learns hands-on the constraints (both financial and operational) that an entrepneur has to work with, and how his creativity plays a role in overcoming those constraints. The entrepreneur, on the other side wins in the sense that he gets a comprehensive view of his business idea and how to implement it in the real world. He can better evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of his vision. It is really a great win-win opportunity for both parties!
Hind Abdo		March 15th, 2006
Future Business Plans     The earlier one can grasp real business concepts the better, for new and old graduates. Making a simple marketing plan may work but in the end when it comes to making real dollars, it would be good to sit down with professionals and hammer out something serious. I fondly remember a small business course which had students create a mock company and work up a plan including a proposal, cost list and other details. It gave me insight then about being in charge of my own finances and knowing where to cut corners. It's important to succeed with as little waste of resources as possible and gives students a much needed hook on overcoming the dilemma of being debt ridden for years on end.
Martin Dansky		January 12th, 2006
Questions to Ponder     I wonder if there would be any legal liability if the students provided bad market research that caused the new business to fail. On the other hand if the research provided was very accurate and timely causing the new enterprise to flourish would the students be rewarded with a share of the profits of the enterprise. In any case it would be wise to have a mentor overseeing the advice of these business students. You would not want established companies secretly using these students as cheap labour. All in all it is a great matchup though the age restriction should be lifted.
Stephen Talko	{21 votes}	November 26th, 2005
Congrats !     Congratulations to Concordia - for extending their goal, of making a business school for today's world. Personally, I went to both Concordia & McGill for business courses - and found that while McGill may have the better reputation, that Concordia was indeed a more "real world" place to learn business. It's true, that both do offer similar programs - and often share the same professors, but while McGill concentrates mostly on book learning - Concordia almost overdoes it on forcing students to work in groups, give presentations, do research, get out there - all real world situations that you will do out there when you do finally ( hopefully ) graduate. Smaller class sizes - and a willingness to try different things, really makes Concordia the place to be. I wish that Concordia had a program like this when I was there.
Rob Postuma	{25 votes}	November 26th, 2005

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