Spark Set To Assist New Entrepreneurs In 2007

Thursday, 29 March 2007, 10:32 am
Article: Spark

Are you an aspiring entrepreneur? Do you have an idea for a business? Do you want to make a difference in society? Do you want to learn business skills? Do you want to be inspired by those who have made it and learn how? Then you need to continue on reading and find out how Spark can give you all of the above and more.

Spark Aspire winners from 2006.

Spark is a student led initiative of The University of Auckland and we are here to help you become an entrepreneur, get your business off the ground, start a venture that makes a positive impact in the world, teach you commercial skills and we will also give you access to successful entrepreneurs who will motivate you and inspire you and most importantly tell you how they did it. We are here to help ALL aspiring entrepreneurs turn their first class ideas into a world class business and give you all the skills and resources that you need to succeed.

Spark encourages students and staff at The University of Auckland to use their entrepreneurial skills so they can recognise the commercial value of their University studies and research and turn their ideas into a business. The concept is simple, write a 3-5 page summary of your idea enter it in by the deadline, have it judged by industry experts, receive feedback and if you are one of the winning teams you could win part of a total prize pool of $60,000. Since 2003 Spark has successfully hosted the $40K Challenge, $10K Challenge as well as Spark Aspire. Our business plan challenges are suited to everyone, from those who want to create a business, those who want to start a social venture and those who want to test their idea in order to develop it further for business creation in following years. BUT we do encourage everyone to enter the $40K challenge (deadline 5 June) - as by entering you have nothing to lose only everything to gain. Our Challenges give students the chance to compete and win capital to help them start their own business, as well as mentoring from successful practitioners, workshops run by professionals and the chance to win incubation time at The ICEHOUSE. Furthermore, anyone who enters their business ideas into one of the challenges will benefit from the feedback that the judges will give.

SPARK presents various events to promote Entrepreneurship and has been supported by many well-known entrepreneurs. This year at the Spark launch Trelise Cooper shared her story as a successful entrepreneur and how she turned her dream of an international fashion label into a reality, and Tony Seba, the author of “Winners Take All”, a successful entrepreneur, and an executive level lecturer at Stanford University has spoken about the difference between a winning company and a losing company. Why would you not what to here and learn from these world class people?

Vision to Business (V2B) is currently and running. This is the FREE inspiring Seminar Series that are focused on developing the skills of Entrepreneurship and has entrepreneurs and academics passing on their knowledge and skills to you. You may ask WHY they are free - the answer is simple, your student loan could not handle the cost of these…. And it is not only Spark, who wants to see your venture succeed and be given the chance it deserves through your education at V2B. Spark has experienced and seen these sessions turn students and staff into successful entrepreneurs and there are numerous stories out there to prove this.

The Spark CEO for 2007, Darsel Keane is passionate about Spark and believes that with the enthusiasm and passion that exists about Spark we will see many more people start their own businesses from The University of Auckland based on their studies and research. All we can say to you is get involved, find out what we are all about, come to our events and enter our challenges - not only will you not regret it, you may win some cash in the process and change you life. Check out www.spark.auckland.ac.nz TODAY!!!

Spark is a student run initiative founded in 2003 in partnership with The University of Auckland Business School, The ICEHOUSE and the Post Graduate Student's Association (PGSA). Spark is sponsored by ASB Bank Ltd, Auckland Uniservices Ltd, No. 8 Ventures, Microsoft NZ Ltd and NZTE.

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