About the Activator Program
Launch your career with a venture in our Activator Program. It's never business as usual with this program, which is designed to help MBA students at UNB Fredericton earn a concentration in entrepreneurship on your academic transcript, while getting valuable hands-on experience starting up a real venture.
Over the course of a year, you will act as a team leader and provide advice to an entrepreneur. Your program will conclude when you make a pitch on the entrepreneur's behalf to a panel of professional investors. If you choose, you can become team leader of your own venture. Our key sponsors in starting up the Activator Program are The John Dobson Foundation and Malley Industries Inc.
Relevance
Our Activator Program provides hands-on experience with a start-up venture that allows you to learn the skills necessary for your career, even if you do not plan to be an entrepreneur yourself. You will act as a team leader working on behalf of an entrepreneur of a real life start-up to whom you will be matched, thus developing leadership skills while receiving guidance from members of the Faculty of Business Administration.
You will also receive advice from a business mentor, travel to various networking hotspots, and have the opportunity to receive a fellowship.
Program Overview
After you are accepted into the program, you will be matched to your venture at the start of the academic year and lead student teams working on particular aspects of the venture in the following courses that you will take in the fall:
- MBA 6314 Venture Creation and Entrepreneurship
- MBA 6315 Market Opportunity Analysis
- MBA 6807 Entrepreneurial Finance
At the end of the fall term, you will pitch for seed funding on behalf of your venture to a panel of judges who may also grant you entry into the CIBC Business Plan Competition.
Your program is completed in the winter semester when you take MBA 6119 Venture Development. Finally, you may be asked to pitch for seed capital to a panel of professional investors on behalf of the entrepreneur in April. During the year you will go on a networking trip to seek contacts that are relevant for the product.
Admission to the Program
Entrance to the program is competitive or by invitation. You must submit a letter of intent explaining why you want to join the program, a completed application, resume and transcript to the International Business and Entrepreneurship Centre (IBEC) by May 31st. Successful candidates will be contacted for an interview.
