Durham Chronicle 18-19 Issue 01

More documents

Recommendations

Info

16 The Chronicle October 30 - December 3, 2018 chronicle.durhamcollege.ca Campus Spaces and Places This is one in a series looking at special locations on the DC, UOIT campus Photograph by Dakota Evans Sophia Mingram, an advertising and marketing graduate, stands outside the new FastStart office in the CFCE. FastStart: Helping student entrepreneurs Infographic by Dakota Evans FastStart offers many services for creative entrepreneurs. Peter Fitzpatrick Dakota Evans The Chronicle Among the many changes around Durham College (DC), the Fast- Start entrepreneurial program has moved out of its room in the B-wing and into the new Centre For Collaborative Education (CFCE). FastStart is a program for students under 29 and gives them the tools and resources they need to grow their own businesses. These tools include help with branding, logo ideas and getting students in touch with business investors. According to Sophia Mingram, the program’s marketing assistant, “most of the events that we do is mostly for you to get connected with your supporters in the community,” referring to the 12 business investors they associate with, including Spark Centre in Oshawa. The program has helped launch more than 15 student-founded businesses and supports more than 50 existing businesses, according to Mingram. One of the student-founded businesses they helped grow is OhhFoods, founded by Brittany Charlton, a DC Law Clerk graduate. OhhFoods makes allergen-free snacks, including bite-sized brownies and apple pie. Charlton said she found out about FastStart on her way to class. “I was walking down the hallway, saw FastStart, then it said ‘if you’re interested in starting or you have a business idea, come talk to us’ so that’s what I did,” Charlton said. FastStart offers networking events to help introduce students to potential investors. Charlton attended three of these events before and after she graduated her program. “I attended the last [networking event] that just happened and that was amazing too. Getting to speak on the panel and meet everyone that’s pretty much there that I didn’t get to meet (previously),” Charlton said. I still speak with them and anytime I need advice or anything I definitely do reach out. According to Mingram, some of these networking events involve students pitching their product to investors while others are competitions in which students pitch to an audience, who ask questions regarding things like pricing and availability. Prizes for the competitions include as much as $1,000, money that gets invested in the winner’s business, the amount depending on the size of the winner’s business requirements. Charlton is still in contact with FastStart. “I still speak with them and anytime I need advice or anything I definitely do reach out and ask for help,” Charlton said. OhhFoods is a growing business and has 32 followers on Twitter after joining last April. In addition to OhhFoods, the DC program has helped companies like jmd alterations and design, who occasionally host pop-up shops on campus to sell their clothing through #dcshops, which is also sponsored by FastStart. There are programs similar to FastStart at other colleges and universities. For example, Twitter users can find UOIT’s offering at UOITBrilliant and Sir Sandford Fleming College’s via FastStartPTBO. The program also provides support to DC faculty by adding entrepreneurial elements into courses and programs. FastStart has more than 25 partner programs across all DC schools.
Campus chronicle.durhamcollege.ca October 30 - December 3, 2018 The Chronicle 17 Spaces and Places This is one in a series looking at special locations on the DC, UOIT campus DC helps craft brewers draft up bubbly success Meagan Secord Jackie Graves The Chronicle A Durham College initiative is helping local brewers produce suds and teach students more about beer. The Centre for Craft Brewing Innovation (CCBI) at Durham's Whitby campus is already brewing up success for the local industry after opening last spring. “Craft brewing is growing in leaps and bounds," said Chris Gillis, DC's manager, applied research business development. “It’s expected the number of craft brewers will hit the 500 mark by 2019 - 90 per cent of those are small brewers.” Local brewers and those aspiring to join the beer business can come to the centre and receive guidance from experts like Erin Broadfoot and John Henley of Little Beasts Brewing Company in Whitby. Little Beasts opened Oct. 21, 2017, as a second career option for the partners. Before getting into brewing, Broadfoot worked as a naturopathic doctor while Henley was a software quality assurance engineer. “It was a hobby for both of us, we were both home brewers and beer judges,” said Broadfoot. “We just loved it.” When the CCBI opened its doors, Broadfoot helped by teaching the first round of classes. She continues to offer ongoing advice to staff at the centre. According to Gillis, the CCBI doesn't offer a specific school program but it does give students the opportunity to work alongside experienced brewers. “What we really want to do is help the craft brewing industry expand the education on how to brew and also give them the resource to control their brewing process to make good brews consistently," said Gillis. Durham College’s Office of Research Services, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ORSIE) saw a growing need for a facility able to support aspiring and existing craft brewers like Little Beasts. The CCBI was funded by a $150,000 grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, an agency of the federal government. Through OR- SIE, the CCBI offers technology brewers otherwise wouldn’t be able to access. “They often lack resources to ensure the quality and consistency of their beer,” said Debbie Mc- Kee Demczyk, dean of ORSIE. “They’re often very passionate about what they do, but because Little Beasts Brewing Company owners Erin Broadfoot (left) and John Henley. they’re small, they have small teams, they don’t have R and D departments (research and development).” The cost of equipment can pose as an obstacle for both aspiring and existing breweries when it comes to quality control, Broadfoot said. Without proper equipment and packaging, the risk of oxygen getting into the beer can become an issue of quality and safety. “A lot of that equipment you need for QC (quality control), we can’t afford,” said Broadfoot. “What they’re doing over there, it would bring in this instrumentation needed to conduct those tests to ensure QC, which is huge in our industry.” Without proper quality control, contamination from outside sources can create excess oxygen in beer, causing the taste to change or cans to explode, Broadfoot said. The CCBI ensures brewers can produce product safely and successfully. Access to the CCBI has already turned out a number of successful breweries, including Premium Near Beer, a craft brewery specializing in non-alcoholic brews. The brewery received funding after a successful pitch to CBC’s Dragons’ Den in 2017. “Premium Near Beer approached us looking for some support to develop a new recipe,” said McKee Demczyk. “They went to Dragons’ Den and they secured a Erin Broadfoot works on the equipment at Little Beasts Brewing. deal based on the beer we helped them produce.” ORSIE is continuing to apply for grants to bring more equipment to the CCBI to support craft brewing education. The centre gives students the opportunity to work in the brewery environment by Photograph by Meagan Secord Photograph by Meagan Secord giving them the tools to analyze and produce a quality product for a continually expanding market, said McKee Demczyk.
Page 1 and 2: I think it’s a beautiful thing th
Page 3 and 4: Community chronicle.durhamcollege.c
Page 5 and 6: chronicle.durhamcollege.ca October
Page 7 and 8: Campus chronicle.durhamcollege.ca O
Page 13 and 14: chronicle.durhamcollege.ca October
Page 15: Campus chronicle.durhamcollege.ca O
Page 19 and 20: Entertainment chronicle.durhamcolle
Page 21 and 22: Cam Bickle The Chronicle When news
Page 23 and 24: Community chronicle.durhamcollege.c

Durham Chronicle 18-19 Issue 01

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?