Student Entrepreneurs | Agents of Change A Brief History

The Kernel MUEC (Melbourne University Entrepreneurs Challenge). One paragraph in a random email caught the eye, brought me down to a talk by a Venture Capitalist. He made a lot of sense – what he was saying felt right. But why hadn’t they taught us about this in class? Wasn’t many undergraduates though, in fact, there was only one... Queue the pissed off gene. 2006

MUEC (Melbourne University Entrepreneurs Challenge). One paragraph in a random email caught the eye, brought me down to a talk by a Venture Capitalist. He made a lot of sense – what he was saying felt right. But why hadn’t they taught us about this in class? Wasn’t many undergraduates though, in fact, there was only one... Queue the pissed off gene.

False Start (MUEA) Excitedly set off scheming & planning. The first event was a hit, and I thought we were gonna take over the world! Called the club the MUEA (Melbourne University Entrepreneurs Association) and put together a board of 8: Rohan Workman: Regine Chung: Julie Nguyen: Pei Ye Tjia: Tian Yang: Van Huynh: Mike Qui (and some special help from Hoe Bing Lo). Turns out putting together a board isn’t the best way to start something new! Too many people, not enough to do. No discredit to the team, we did accomplish some cool things. I look back on it as a learning experience I had to have. 2007

Excitedly set off scheming & planning. The first event was a hit, and I thought we were gonna take over the world!

Called the club the MUEA (Melbourne University Entrepreneurs Association) and put together a board of 8: Rohan Workman: Regine Chung: Julie Nguyen: Pei Ye Tjia: Tian Yang: Van Huynh: Mike Qui (and some special help from Hoe Bing Lo).

Turns out putting together a board isn’t the best way to start something new! Too many people, not enough to do. No discredit to the team, we did accomplish some cool things. I look back on it as a learning experience I had to have.

Take 2: Student Entrepreneurs | Agents of Change With half the board finished (uni), and the others pretty much loosing interest (don’t blame ‘em). We relaunched as SE|AoC, new branding, new strategies, and generally more of a clue. This is what many of you saw in 2008. Semester 1 was spent setting up, Mark Parncutt (winner of the undergraduate section of MUEC, along with his business partner Marita Cheng) championed our only event for the semester – a guest talk from innovation guru Michael Hewitt-Gleeson. 2008

With half the board finished (uni), and the others pretty much loosing interest (don’t blame ‘em). We relaunched as SE|AoC, new branding, new strategies, and generally more of a clue. This is what many of you saw in 2008.

Semester 1 was spent setting up, Mark Parncutt (winner of the undergraduate section of MUEC, along with his business partner Marita Cheng) championed our only event for the semester – a guest talk from innovation guru Michael Hewitt-Gleeson.

Making Stuff Happen Second semester we started making moves. Roshni Govindaraj, Mark Parncutt, Marita Cheng, and myself put on Entrepreneurs Week. It went terribly, but somehow, everyone said they loved it! Buoyed by this success, we quickly put together IdeaPitch - in about 5 weeks all up! The winners of the Innovators Challenge (a competition we ran during E’week), Arum Sugiono, and Daniel Lim, along with Roshni Govindaraj, championed IdeaPitch; widely regarded – both internally and externally – as our best event to date. Tian Yang, one of the early members of the now defunct MUEA, returned from a year overseas at Manchester uni, and Grace Sia – a finalist at IdeaPitch – also joined the party!

Second semester we started making moves. Roshni Govindaraj, Mark Parncutt, Marita Cheng, and myself put on Entrepreneurs Week. It went terribly, but somehow, everyone said they loved it!

Buoyed by this success, we quickly put together IdeaPitch - in about 5 weeks all up! The winners of the Innovators Challenge (a competition we ran during E’week), Arum Sugiono, and Daniel Lim, along with Roshni Govindaraj, championed IdeaPitch; widely regarded – both internally and externally – as our best event to date.

Tian Yang, one of the early members of the now defunct MUEA, returned from a year overseas at Manchester uni, and Grace Sia – a finalist at IdeaPitch – also joined the party!

Where we sit With a false start and one year proper under our belt, we’ve started to create a place for us at the University of Melbourne. Some structure is coming together, processes are being written – or, more accurately, drawn – and our culture is forming. So much so we’ve almost got a mission statement! The figure below illustrates conceptually how we fit in between uni and entrepreneurship. And, whilst basic, has taken some time to arrive at. SE|AoC

With a false start and one year proper under our belt, we’ve started to create a place for us at the University of Melbourne. Some structure is coming together, processes are being written – or, more accurately, drawn – and our culture is forming.

So much so we’ve almost got a mission statement!

The figure below illustrates conceptually how we fit in between uni and entrepreneurship. And, whilst basic, has taken some time to arrive at.

What the future holds 2009 promises to be a massive year for us! With some momentum carried over from ‘08, we’re hoping to make a big impact this year, launching some cool new initiatives, finding more passionate people, and paving the way for some alliances in other universities.

2009 promises to be a massive year for us! With some momentum carried over from ‘08, we’re hoping to make a big impact this year, launching some cool new initiatives, finding more passionate people, and paving the way for some alliances in other universities.

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And better yet, thanks for joining up.