From May 15 to 17, the University of Manitoba will host the twelfth edition of E-Spirit, a national business plan competition for Aboriginal students in Grades 10 to 12.
Created and organized by the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), the competition will see 160 Aboriginal high school students from across Canada come to the Fort Garry campus. The students will present their business plans and will compete for the Gold, Silver and Bronze trophies as well as for one of the 13 special achievement awards.
“We are striving to make Manitoba a centre of excellence for Indigenous education,” said Dr. David T. Barnard, President and Vice-Chancellor at the University of Manitoba. “Celebrating student success is a key element of our strategy. We are proud to host the 2012 E-Spirit Aboriginal Youth Business Plan Competition and welcome future business leaders who plan to reshape their communities through entrepreneurship.”
The University of Manitoba will provide venues for several BDC E-Spirit events and on-campus accommodation for all the participating students. Seven teams from Manitoba qualified to compete in the business plan competition finals.
“This year, BDC E-Spirit has come full circle: the first edition of the competition launched in Winnipeg in 2001,” said Wilson Neapew, National Director, Aboriginal Banking Unit at BDC. “We want to thank the University of Manitoba, one Canada’s premier hubs for Aboriginal education, for their support. Business plan competitions such as E-Spirit expose students to the potential of entrepreneurship and help them discover how communication technology can be used for business and networking purposes.”
For more details visit www.bdc.ca/espirit or join the conversation on Facebook at facebook.com/BDC.ESpirit and Twitter at @BDC_ESpirit.
About BDC E-Spirit:
E-Spirit is a 16 week web-based competition for Aboriginal high school students in grades 10 to 12 that provides interactive business planning resources, online access to mentoring and extensive student networking opportunities, via the web and in person. The E-Spirit competition was created and developed by BDC and is supported by Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC).
For more information please contact Andrea Bilash, Client Relations Coordinator, Indigenous Achievement, University of Manitoba, at 204-480-1473 (andrea_bilash@umanitoba.ca),
Or Maria Constantinescu, Advisor, Public Relations, BDC, at 514-496-7146 (maria.constantinescu@bdc.ca).
