January 23, 2012 in Blog, Project Updates by Karolina
Project competes at the Queen’s Entrepreneurs’ Competition 2012
Waterloo Banking Project participated in the Queen’s Entrepreneurs’ Competition this weekend — the largest international undergraduate business plan competition in Canada, according to the QEC website. Directors of the Project, Mark Haley, Helena Cao, and Ryan Chen-Wing, competed among the sixteen teams whose business plans qualified for the competition and presented their plans to business professionals.
The QEC brings together young, bright individuals and allows them to develop their business ideas with the criticism and support they received from the judges, as well as compete for a top cash prize of $15,000. The competition is recognized internationally and has now entered its 24th year, with teams that came from Singapore, South Africa, Bangladesh, the U.S., and Canada.
The itinerary of the three-day competition included a ‘mix and mingle’ at the Delta Chelsea hotel, a speaker event, dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, and of course first and final round presentations on Friday and Saturday.
Waterloo Banking unfortunately did not advance into the final six, however the team did not leave completely dissatisfied. The judges asked questions that identified some of the major challenges the project faces. “We answered them well,” said Ryan Chen-Wing over email from the competition, “but we were the only project whose purpose is not personal profit. Ours is an unconventional endeavour and it is important for us to deal with and dispel doubts.”
Staff of the project are looking forward to better showings at Enterprize nationals and other competitions later this term. As well the project is focused on its primary goal of establishing student-run financial services.
January 15, 2012 in Blog, Project Updates by Ryan
Project qualifies for Enterprize Canada finals in Vancouver
Waterloo Banking Project placed second in the Enterprize Canada central region on Saturday and qualified to compete at the national finals in Vancouver next month.
Ryan Chen-Wing, Helena Cao, and Mark Haley delivered their 15-minute presentation on their team’s business plan to a panel of judges, students, and competitors from the other six teams in the Macdonald Institute building at the University of Guelph. The team represented both University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University.
Judges offered feedback and advice on improving the team’s performance for the finals. They also were impressed by how much the team had achieved so far in developing plans for student-run financial services.
The top three teams advance to compete at the 12-team Enterprize Canada finals February 10-12 in Vancouver.
Thank you to staff members Tian Lei and Vinson Fong who attended the event and photographed and supported the team.
July 29, 2011 in Blog, Project Updates by Ryan
The project is now incorporated
Waterloo Banking Project is now incorporated. The papers that officially create our corporation as a not-for-profit as of June 3 arrived on July 13, the day of our summer meeting. Our official corporate name is Waterloo Banking & Financial Services Research, Development & Education Project.
This entity is not the one that would offer the financial services, but the organization that is working towards establishing those services. The law governing corporations without share capital, not-for-profits, requires them to state the purposes of the entity. Ours say this:
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June 14, 2011 in Blog, Project Updates by Ryan
Project focusing for Spring 2011
Waterloo Banking Project is continuing in the Spring 2011 term but will not be holding regular general staff meetings.
Over the past year we held regular staff meetings presenting different aspects of our plans and research and involving interested students in discussions to generate ideas and consider the challenges we face. We also worked to recruit staff and involve them in research, marketing and communications, and management.
Our staff and associate directors provided us with great work and feedback, but this term we have decided to streamline our operations. Our team of directors, therefore, is focusing on a few key priorities for this term: further exploring and developing our plans, improving our communications including our website, and preparing to negotiate with potential partners.
We will have at least one staff meeting this term to present new developments with the project. Any interested students from Wilfrid Laurier University or University of Waterloo will be welcome to attend. Announcement of meetings will go out through our various media.
May 14, 2011 in Blog, Project Updates by Ryan
Review of the Winter 2011 term
We finished another term of work developing our plan and our organization as we work towards creating a student-run financial institution. Our executive and staff met seven times over the course of the term in addition to our weekly director meetings. We promoted our initiative, recruited more Laurier students into our staff, and held an outreach event on the Laurier campus. We joined Communitech’s venture services group to benefit from their advice and support.
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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.
January 29, 2011 in Blog, Project Updates by Jamie Lee
General Meeting on Thursday February 3rd 2011
Do you want to leave a lasting impression on the student community? Have you ever wanted to accomplish a task that would set you apart from every other university student in the country?
Find out more about the Waterloo Banking Project at our General Meeting on Thursday, February 3 at 5:30 in WLU SBE 1220.
We are working to establish the first student-run financial institution in Canada. We would offer retail banking and other financial services to help students graduate with more money, less debt, and better financial skills. Develop strong teamwork and entrepreneurial skills and gain experience through work on diverse projects, and explore opportunities in our different departments – Research & Planning, Marketing & Communications, and Human Resources & Training.
Students from both Laurier and Waterloo are welcome to sign up and attend the meeting and find out more join the Waterloo Banking Project group on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=144345322276568), and follow @WaterlooBanking on Twitter (http://twitter.com/WaterlooBanking)
For those interested in the Waterloo Banking Project and wish to attend the meeting, please fill out this online form: https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dFJMUzFjM0dnV25jX0xic0xfQ3BGY3c6MQ
December 16, 2010 in Blog, Project Updates by Erica
Executive Positions for Winter 2011
Due to growth and development of the project, we are now looking for dedicated individuals to fill new executive positions for the Winter 2011 semester.
The hiring process will begin once classes start in January. Please fill out the application form by Friday 7 January 2011. General staff positions will still be available to students after executives are hired.
Brief descriptions on each role and their responsibilities are posted below.
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