University News

Bishop’s Student Secures a Spot Among "The Next 36"

December 17, 2010

Sherbrooke, QC. December 17, 2010 – Third-year Bishop’s University student Philippe Vennes has been chosen to participate in The Next 36, a prestigious entrepreneurial leadership program recently launched through the University of Toronto.

Vennes, who will complete his studies at Bishop’s University’s Williams School of Business in finance and economics in May, will join 35 Canadian colleagues for a challenging eight-month program designed to foster a new generation of Canadian business leaders.

“This program will be a life-changing experience for me,” said an exuberant Philippe Vennes. “The relationships I will form and the opportunity to work with some of Canada’s best students and business leaders will be invaluable. I am honoured to have been chosen and look forward to the challenges that lie ahead.”
 
Participants in The Next 36 will work in teams of four to develop a new business venture. Each team will be given $50,000 in capital as well as access to mentorship from business leaders and technical support to help invent, launch and sell a product or service for a mobile environment.

The 36 students will work remotely until May, when they will gather in Toronto for an intensive summer session of entrepreneurship education led by some of Canada’s top CEOs, professors, and business mentors.

“Although this program is only entering its first year, it is already being referred to as a Canadian Rhodes Scholarship for Entrepreneurship,” states Dr. Steve Harvey, Dean of Bishop’s University’s Williams School of Business. “The competition for this program was intense. We are very proud of Philippe, his admission to this program speaks to the quality of the education offered by Bishop’s and the Dobson-Lagassé Entrepreneurship Centre.”

The Next 36, founded by volunteer professor and serial entrepreneur Reza Satchu, selected 36 promising and innovative undergraduate students from over 300 applications from university students across Canada. The program is based on the success of a course taught by Mr. Satchu, “Economics of Entrepreneurship,” which has been rated one of the top undergraduate courses taught at the University of Toronto. Prof. Satchu changes the way students define and tackle problems, pushing them out of their comfort zones to altar their self-perceptions and goals.

The Next 36 costs approximately $25,000 per student to deliver and is made possible through the generosity of individuals and charitable foundations. All 36 participating students receive a full scholarship for the program.

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