For an entrepreneur working with a client, the technical skills are only half the battle. Entrepreneurs also have to be able to clearly communicate their ideas to clients and get them to buy into their vision. Those are the skills that will be developed during Lethbridge College’s fifth annual Tecconnect Challenge.
Students from the Multimedia Production and Digital Communications and Media programs will have five hours, working in groups, to create a marketing plan and collaterals to help solve real-world challenges for a local entrepreneur. Students will be required to create a plan and collaterals that could include logo updates, motion graphics, animation, TV or radio commercials, social media accounts, virtual reality applications and more, before pitching their ideas to a panel of local entrepreneurs and marketers.
The challenge is a collaborative effort between the college and Tecconnect.
“Students will have to use design thinking strategies to create solutions to the pain points for an entrepreneur from the Tecconnect incubator,” says Tanya Weder, Multimedia Production instructor. “The entrepreneur has met with students to provide company goals and challenges. Students have had a little time before hand to come up with a strategy but all of the pieces they create will be made at Tecconnect in an intensive five-hour competition. This challenge gives students a unique look at what they will face once they are out in the workplace.”
This year, students are working with Sinmi Esene, CEO and co-founder of Daniola Corporation, which provides a new approach in the global exchange market through a software platform. She spent an hour earlier this month with the students explaining her company, its challenges and plans for the future.
A week later, the students participated in a pitch workshop facilitated by Eyren Uggenti, Tecconnect’s Entrepreneur Program Manager, who gave the students practical hands-on tips to planning and doing pitches.
The Tecconnect centre for entrepreneurship and innovation is a vibrant place for entrepreneurs to start and grow their businesses within a supportive and innovative environment. It’s a space and community that encourages the development of new ideas that transform industries and shape the future.
Lethbridge College students will take part in the competition at Tecconnect (3582 30 St. N.) on Tuesday. The design phase will take place from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. and presentations to the panel will start at 2 p.m.