Ryerson University Entrepreneurship Program

Ryerson University's Ted Rogers School of Management

Ryerson University Entrepreneurship Program is the largest undergraduate entrepreneurship program in Canada with both major and minor degree programs available. It is a division within the Ted Rogers School of Management, a recognized leader in entrepreneurship education in Canada.^[1] The school is located in the heart of the nation's business district.

Ryerson University has always had a traditional focus on applied education. The Entrepreneurship & Strategy department offers an innovative degree program through the university with novel specializations. Many graduates go on to start their own companies, work as independent agents under sole proprietorships or start up community programs.

Ryerson confers approximately one hundred entrepreneurship major and minor Bachelor of Commerce degrees each year.^[2] In addition, the institute performs ongoing research into the field of entrepreneurship and strategy development.

Courses

The courses offered combine the broad and rigorous theoretical knowledge needed to avoid common pitfalls, with plenty of hands-on experience in helping real companies innovate and succeed. The focus is on developing the creativity and independent thinking needed by business leaders to build the companies and industries of tomorrow.^[1] Ryerson entrepreneurship courses are available to students across all faculties and include the following:.^[3]

• Strategies for Success
• New Venture Startup
• Family Business in Canada
• Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Strategy
• Studies in Entrepreneurship
• Identifying Opportunities
• Corporate Governance
• Management of Innovation
• Creating a Business Plan
• Applied Research in Entrepreneurship
• Entrepreneurial Organizational Appraisal
• Entrepreneurial Finance
• Business Strategies
• Entrepreneurial Thinking (MBA)
• Finance and Technology Valuation (MBA)
• Product Commercialization (MBA)

Faculty

Students are taught by experienced entrepreneurs and venture capitalists who have started dozens of companies and helped hundreds of entrepreneurs raise over $2 billion in financing. Many of the faculty members have PhDs and are actively engaged in entrepreneurial thought leadership and entrepreneurship research.^[4]

• Dr. Dave Valliere - Department Chair of Entrepreneurship & Strategy
• Prof. Neil Wolff - Associate Dean of Entrepreneurship & Strategy
• Dr. Steven Gedeon - Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship & Strategy, Director of Ryerson Entrepreneur Institute, Director of Ryerson Angel Network, Chairman of CEO Fusion, President of Intelliaction Inc., Faculty advisor for SIFE Ryerson, Advisory Board member of Ontario Partnership for Innovation and Commercialization
• Dr. Ken Grant - Professor of Strategy & Entrepreneurship
• Dr. Mary Han - Associate Professor of Strategy & Entrepreneurship. She is currently a visiting scholar at Mays Business School, Texas A & M University, USA
• Prof. Knud Jensen - Professor of Strategy & Entrepreneurship, CCSBE, Strategic Leadership Forum
• Dr. Stewart Melanson - Assistant Professor of Management, Entrepreneurship and Strategy
• Prof. David Schlanger - Director of Student Achievement
• Dr. James Tiessen - Teaches and researches International Management, Entrepreneurship, Joint Ventures and SME Exporting
• Dr. Phil Walsh - Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship & Strategy, Faculty Advisor for JDC Ryerson, Editor of Entrepreneurial Practice Review, a Fellow of the Ryerson Entrepreneurship Research Institute and a member of the Ryerson Institute for the Study of Corporate Social Responsibility
• Dr. Sean Wise - Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, founder of VenCorps, consultant for CBC Television on Dragons' Den

SIFE Ryerson

SIFE Ryerson is a Canada-wide award-winning team, and Ryerson University’s most active student group. Currently involved in both local and international projects that impact both the local community as well as people around the world. The focus is on providing others with opportunities to gain hands-on entrepreneurial experience. SIFE Ryerson was the 2010 National Champion of the Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE) competition.^[5]

StartMeUp Ryerson

StartMeUp Ryerson assists students in new venture start-up. It is designed to provide aspiring entrepreneurs with the education, resources and funding to start and expand their businesses through four stages (Events, Idea Consultation, Resources, Funding).^[6] The committee is also responsible for hosting several large events including an evening with guest speaker Kevin O'Leary,^[7] and networking events where Toronto-based entrepreneurs come in to meet and talk to students.

StartMeUp Ryerson also hosts the annual $25,000 Slaight Communications Business Plan Competition where entrepreneurial students enter their business plan into a competition for the chance to win $25,000. The most recent winner Hailey Coleman, CEO of Damn Heels, went on to be a successful contestant on CBC's Dragons' Den. Other past winners to gain significant traction and start up success include: Jay Manara from Rock Parlor Clothing Co. Rock Parlor Clothing Co., and Monica Mei Chiu from Aime Luxury.

Ryerson Angel Network

The Ryerson Angel Network (RAN) is the first university-led Angel Investor group in Canada. Their mandate is to provide funding, mentorship and resources to youth-led businesses (current post-secondary students and recent alumni under 35 years of age) within Southern Ontario.^[8] RAN actively supports businesses that have a high likelihood of success by assisting them with investor readiness services. RAN also provides after deal-resources and relationship capital management opportunities. The aim is to bring together qualified investors with youth-led businesses for investments that range from smaller deal sizes (less than $50,000) to much larger deals (over $500,000).

Ryerson Entrepreneur Institute

REI is a university-wide program to motivate students and alumni to actively discover new for-profit and non-profit innovations and act on them to start up new businesses, non-profit organizations or community programs. It was created in 2008 to leverage the efforts of SIFE, and the Entrepreneurship and Strategy Department of the Ted Rogers School of Management to make innovation and entrepreneurship support more accessible to all students and alumni from the university across diverse faculties. The institute is attuned to the highly diverse values, language, and approaches that different faculties, students and alumni bring to their new ventures.^[9]

DMZ at Ryerson University

The The DMZ at Ryerson University is a platform designed to cultivate the creativity and innovativeness of young entrepreneurs. The workplace is located in the Toronto Life Square, amongst the energy and resources of the downtown core. It’s a place where students and alumni come to innovate, collaborate and market their products and services, and where commercial enterprises can turn to for progressive and creative digital solutions.^[10] Some current ventures include:

• Flybits^[11]
• Ryerson Mobile^[12]
• SoapBox^[13]

The DMZ works closely with the SIFE Ryerson and StartMeUp Ryerson programs. The latter organizations follow a cooperative and collaborative framework from idea consultation to business plan writing to legal issues - until it is finally prepared for the market and where the DMZ provides support toward commercialization. This is Ryerson’s investment in the knowledge-based economy.^[10]

Entrepreneurship Research Institute

The Entrepreneurship Research Institute (ERI) is devoted to investigating the role that entrepreneurs play in modern economies. In particular, the focus is on addressing the fundamental research questions of the entrepreneurship field: where entrepreneurial opportunities come from, why some firms and individuals choose to exploit them, and how these efforts can be made more successful.^[14]

ERI focuses on research of high academic and intellectual value, with clear applicability to practitioners in the business community. The Institute houses the Ted Rogers Chair in Entrepreneurship, an endowed research chair focusing on entrepreneurship in Canada. ERI also conducts periodic seminars and symposia on topics of interest to scholars of entrepreneurship.^[14]

Careers

Ryerson Entrepreneurship graduates will have the opportunity to create the mindset and skills to become self-sufficient and self-employed by launching new businesses. They will possess skills in helping existing organizations cultivate a culture of innovation and new market development.

Graduates that choose not to start up their own companies may find employment as an intrapreneur within a larger organization. They may start their career working positions within business development, strategic planning and possibly in management.

Graduate program

Entrepreneurship courses are included in the programs for the Ryerson MBA, the MBA in the Management of Technology and Innovation, and the MMSc in the Management of Technology and Innovation.

References

External links

• Ryerson Entrepreneurship Informational Video
• Ryerson Entrepreneurship Faculty
• SIFE Ryerson
• StartMeUp Ryerson
• Entrepreneurship Research Institute
• Blog
• A Student from the ENT 2011 Class is Changing the Party Rental Business in Toronto