March 24, 2011 in Blog, Project Updates by Tyler
Laurier Outreach Event
On Monday, March 21, we held an outreach event in the School of Business and Economics on the Laurier campus.
The Project set up a table where people could see magic tricks from one of our supporters, and then learn more about the project from staff members. We got a lot of great feedback from everyone who stopped by, and we look forward to working at Laurier again in the near future.
The Team at Laurier
March 20, 2011 in Blog, Project Updates by Jamie Lee
Outreach Event on March 21st
Students at Waterloo and Laurier have been working on an important and exciting new Project over the past semester that aims to establish the first student-run financial institution in Canada.
March 19, 2011 in Blog, Project Updates by Jamie Lee
Highlights of Fall 2010 and Plans for 2011
Throughout the fall semester, we’ve taken substantial steps towards accomplishing our goal of establishing a student-run financial institution here in our university for Waterloo students. Highlights of the past term include:
• Highlights of Fall 2010
• Organizational Growth
• Velocity End of Term Exhibition
• Future Advancement and Expansion
1. Highlights of Fall 2010
During this past term we received a lot of exposure and public interest as we pitched out project at the Velocity Pitch Lunch, StartupCampWaterloo, Velocity End of Term Exhibition and the CBET Innovation Fair. We gained further student support when we held a Professional Photoshoot at Wilfrid Laurier University in November.
Many students showed interest in our business plans and objectives, observed when we surveyed over 1000 university students, and 45% of respondents said they would be likely to join a student-run credit union. We further solidified that business plan when we had a meeting with advisor Peter Chow. Peter Chow is the Senior Vice President of Global Markets and alumni of Waterloo, who provided further insights for the growth and further development of the organization.
2. Organizational Growth
Directors of the Waterloo Banking Project are returning staff members:
Ryan Chen-Wing – Project Leader, Director of Research & Planning
Erica Yao – Senior Director, Director of Human Resources & Training
Tyler Planeta – Director of Marketing & Communications
The Waterloo Banking Project also welcomes several new Associate Directors to the staff this term:
Abirami Ananthan – Associate Director, Staff Orientation
Emily Na – Associate Director, Financial Education
Stanley Rao – Associate Director, Analysis
Jamie Lee – Associate Director, Publishing
Kathy Zheng – Associate Director, Business Plan
Nicole Covello – Business Plan Development
3. Velocity End of Term Exhibition
On Wednesday November 30th, the Waterloo Banking Project was presented at the Velocity End of Term Exhibition by Directors Helena Cao and Ryan Chen-Wing. For the exhibition people browsed each booth and asked questions about the projects they represented. A notable visitor for the Waterloo Banking booth was Bill Tatham, Thatham Centre. Later on in the day, both Helena and Ryan made a two minute pitch about our project in front of the audience.
4. Future Advancement and Expansion
On November 1st 2010, the Georgetown University’s newspaper (The Georgetown Independent) released an article describing their credit union. As described in a past release, The Independent student newspaper features Georgetown’s student credit union, Waterloo Banking Project has drawn inspiration from the Georgetown University Alumni and Student Federal Credit Union before. The GUASFCU was the first student run credit union in the States and the GUASFCU has been operating since 1983, supported by university staff and over 12,000 students and alumni, and holds assets in excess of $15 million.