So,

A couple of us from Agents of Change (myself included) pitched today at the finals of the Melbourne City Pillar Challenge.

Was quite a nerve-racking experience to say the least! Not sure if it was because it was personally my first pitch competition as a participant, or because we had about 4 hours worth of prep on the pitch itself... Either way, was an awesome experience! I don't think we did enough to go through - there were some very serious looking competitors about - but we did learn a bit. A big thank you to my partner in crime Tian Yang too! It was his initiative that made us enter in the first place.

Not sure when exactly the results come out, but this place will be the first to know.

Whatever happens, hopefully they run the competition again next year. A city pillar is some fancied real estate, and I'm sure some entrepreneurial student types could go far with it.

Posted by Amir @ 7:25pm, 1/6/09.

A quick update on the City Pillar Challenge.

Finalists have been announced, and an entry from one of our own has made it through! Watch this space for more detail, the final presentations are going down on June 1.

*Disclaimer - I'm part of the team : )

Also, a reminder about the upcoming events this week: NICTA have an interview with an entrepreneur tomorrow night, and AIMIA talk about the risk involved in social media Wednesday (check the calendar section for more detail).

Posted by Amir @ 6:00pm, 25/5/09.

Just wanted to word you up about an upcoming case compettion we're helping to run.

Read the spiel below, if you're interested email amir@agentsofchange.org.au

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The Faculty of Economics and Commerce, in cooperation with AIESEC, the Latin American Students’ Association (LASA), the Melbourne GSM Student Association and the Student Entrepreneurs | Agents of Change, brings you an exciting case competition!

The C4 Case Competition provides you with the opportunity to work in mixed teams of undergraduate and graduate Commerce students from these four student associations, and compete to solve a real-life business problem under time-pressure.

You will have the opportunity to:
• Test your creativity and problem-solving abilities
• Gain teamwork skills
• Improve presentation skills
• Build communication skills
• Network with undergraduate and graduate Commerce students from other student associations
• Win $100 per person!

Outline of the case competition:
The C4 Case Competition will take place on Thursday 14 May from 5.00 – 7.00pm and Friday 15 May from 8.00am – 5.00pm.

On Thursday evening, you will be assigned to your team and receive a coaching session from Professor Greg Whitwell, Associate Dean Academic Programs, to prepare you for the case competition.

In total, four groups of four students will compete. Each team will have one member of each student association and will consist of both undergraduate and graduate students.

The case will be given to your team on Friday morning and you have to present the solution to a judging panel of senior Faculty staff in the afternoon. Refreshments, lunch and a networking reception will be included.

Eligibility:
• You need to be a current student, enrolled at the Faculty of Economics & Commerce.
• You cannot participate in this case competition if you participated in any of the following case
competitions: Copenhagen Business School, Marshall Business School, Auckland University and
Thammasat University.

For more information, please visit: http://www.melbournegsm.unimelb.edu.au/experience/events.html
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Posted by Amir @ 5:15pm, 30/4/09

Awesome effort by all who entered. And by us who twice judged and gave every entrant feedback!!

The winners from the comp were in no particular order:
- Kingston Development: Silk
- Green Wall Garden
- Melbourne Op-Shop Tours
- Corporate Dining Direct
- Transient

It was especially close in some quarters, and the winning entrants turned out to be very strong. The next step is MUEC, submit your entry (the same or updated with feedback), and you'll receive a business mentor who will help you develop your idea and increase your chances of winning the $50,000 up for grabs in the MUEC competition!

Posted by Amir @ 12:30am, 24/3/09.

There's been much mention of MUEC on this site and in our member newsletters in recent weeks; most notably we've said that the $1K Competition (which closes tomorrow) is preparation for MUEC, the "real thing".

MUEC is the Melbourne University Entrepreneurs Challenge, a business plan competition organised by postgrad students from Melbourne Business School that has been running for almost a decade now. After years of the competition being dominated by MBA students, the 2007-08 competition saw the introduction of an undergraduates division for the first time. 15 undergrad teams entered the preliminary round of MUEC in September ’07, and one undergrad team, Nudge, even made it to the finals of the open competition in May the following year.

So for anyone thinking of entering MUEC, the $1K Competition is an invaluable opportunity to get feedback (not to mention prizemoney) to give you a head start into the big guns! Submissions due 5pm tomorrow. Details here. No excuses!

Posted by Mark @ 10:30pm, 19/3/09

Yesterday was the last day for submissions to the first dollar comp we ran as part of O'week promotions.

Will Nasta had the most interesting entry we received, see below:

“As a young wrestling fan, I created a service where I sold laminated, large-scale images of wrestlers animated as characters from South Park. I maintained an inventory of images available, and used my school locker as a promotional device to sell to my fellow Year 7 students. Most of my success came from the monthly Pay-per-view parties I attended, where I met older (wealthier) fans who I convinced needed the images as party decorations!”

Awesome work from Will, and everyone else who entered but didn't quiet make the mark.

The prize, as promised, is a copy of 'The Art of the Start' by Guy Kawasaki - a must have book for every aspiring entrepreneur!

Posted by Amir @ 1:40pm, 14/3/09.

Full review of last nights event will follow shortly.

For now, get cracking on the $1K competition, details here:

http://www.agentsofchange.org.au/1kcomp/

Posted by Amir @ 5:20pm, 6/3/09.

Here's another exciting competition happening in Melbourne CBD.

Submit a business plan to the City of Melbourne as an individual or team for the innovative use of a city pillar and you could win a cash prize of $1200 PLUS a permit to use a city pillar to showcase your winning initiative for up to 12 months!

Registration closes 4pm Friday, 3rd April (so act fast!)

For more information visit www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/citypillars, or become a fan of City Pillar Competition on Facebook

The use of the city pillar is only limited by your imagination.

Posted by Tian @ 5.16pm 6/3/09.

“In 75 words or less describe how you made your first $$”

The entry with the most entrepreneurial spirit will win an award-winning entrepreneurial book 'Art of the Start' by Guy Kawasaki, and be published on our website.

Competition closes 5pm, Friday 12th March

Entries to be handed in to our stall (we will be in the Commerce Courtyard every day from 12-2pm until Friday 12th March).

(Note; if you can't make it in, email submissions to hi@agentsofchange.org.au with First Dollar comp as the subject line)

INNOVIC 'The Next Big Thing' Competition is now open (and has been for some time...).

Details from their site:

Applications for INNOVIC's International Next Big Thing Award 2009 are now being accepted globally. Applications can be completed online at http://www.nextbigthingaward.com/.

The Next Big Thing Award competition will offer $60,000 in cash and prizes and over $100,000 worth of outstanding publicity and promotion. 25 finalists will be selected and exhibited at the Melbourne Museum, Australia. The 2008 exhibition was viewed by over 76,000 people and finalists attended a prestigious Awards ceremony.

The best international finalist will be flown to Melbourne Australia with 5 nights of accommodation to attend the awards ceremony

Applications close 16th March 2009.

As always, let us know if you're thinking of entering. Just drop an email to hi@agentsofchange.com.au

Posted by Amir @ 9:30pm, 24/02/09.