Saint Mary’s venture capital students invest in haircut house calls
House calls for haircuts proved to be to be a cut above the competition and too good an investment to pass up for Saint Mary’s University’s Venture Grade Fund. They are investing $15,000 in Cribcut, an online booking service that connects consumers with top hair stylists that bring the salon to them.
“Cribcut has a novel business model that we are proud to support,” said Saint Mary’s student and Venture Grade Associate Emma Scott. “We are confident in David’s lean startup methodology and experience as a serial entrepreneur who’s exited three past ventures and one in Silicon Valley. Cribcut is positioned to be a major disruptor in the beauty industry.”
Cribcut was co-founded by serial entrepreneur David Howe, who has built and deployed a software-enabled marketplace for hairstylists. Cribcut's solution helps stylists become travelling hairdressers - providing clients with haircuts, colors, and styles at their homes and offices. Cribcut's software solution helps stylists with bookings, travel optimization, payments and ratings. Cribcut also facilitates new client introductions for stylists. Bookings can be made through their online booking app with on-demand appointments available.
"We're happy to welcome Venture Grade as one of our investors,” said David Howe, the Chief Executive Officer with Cribcut. “We're confident that this investment will help us continue growth and product development and set us up for further funding over the coming months. We look forward to a mutually beneficial partnership with Venture Grade and welcome them with open arms to our growing team."
Should the company experience a successful exit, meaning if they are purchased for a large sum, the investors, including Venture Grade, will receive a payout scaled to the purchase. Any returns made on Venture Grade’s investments are returned to Venture Grade, the student fund.
The Saint Mary’s University Venture Grade Fund is a student-raised and run venture capital fund and the first student-raised venture capital investment fund in Canada in which the students raise the capital.
The fund was started by students of Dr. Ellen Farrell at the Sobey School of Business in fall 2016, with a connection to Silicon Valley’s C100 group, Boston’s Canadian Entrepreneurs in New England, and initial support from Innovacorp. It has expanded to include members at other Atlantic universities including Acadia University, Dalhousie University, and Memorial University.
Saint Mary's observes the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women
Close to 75 faculty, staff and students gathered to observe the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women on Thursday, December 6 in the Art Gallery.
Presented by Saint Mary’s University and Peaceful Schools International, the solemn day marked the 29th anniversary of the shooting deaths of 14 female students at École Polytechnique in Montreal. Saint Mary’s has been holding the memorial annually since 1989, when the tragic shooting occurred.
In his remarks, President Robert Summerby-Murray reminded attendees that universities are to be both places of “sanctuary” and action to create a culture of respect for all, and that universities must lead in this action.
The service included a poem reading by Lindsay Vandewater, SMUSA Equity Officer as well as a moment of silence in honour of the fallen women.
Brianna Comeau and Kartik Saini of the SMU Women’s Centre presented the “Solidarity Canvas” hanging in the Art Gallery, a student-created, interactive installment that acknowledges violence suffered by women and other marginalized communities, and urged people to listen, believe, speak out, intervene and act to become allies.
Members of the SMUSA executive, the SMU football team and the Conflict Resolution Society gathered at the front of the room to quietly place 14 white roses in a vase as the names of the shooting victims were read aloud.
Danielle Day, 3rd year Engineering student at SMU, was awarded the Montreal Women’s Memorial Scholarship. Grade 8 students and creators of a trio of children’s books on peaceful conflict resolution were invited to the podium and attended and spoke of their hope and optimism that in the future, women would not longer have to face such violence.
Bridges to Thailand: Saint Mary’s signs MOU with Srinakharinwirot University
The start of a partnership: Dr, Malcolm Butler, VPAR with Associate Professor Prit Supasetsiri, Vice President for International Relations and Communications, SWU and the visiting delagates in the McNally Boardroom.
The signing of a MoU between Saint Mary’s University and Srinakharinwirot University (SWU) in Thailand marks the beginning of a new partnership and opens the door to increased international mobility for both institutions.
A ten-person delegation from SWU came to campus on November 28 to visit Saint Mary’s, sign the MoU and discuss further opportunities for potential collaboration including joint degree programs, student exchanges and ESL summer/short-term courses.
In addition to Dr. Butler, delegates spoke with Dr. Adam Sarty, AVP Research, and Dean, FGSR; Dr. Harjeet Bhabra Dean, SSB; and Nicola MacNevin from the The Language Centre.
The Thai delegation included faculty from their College of Social Communication Innovation and Faculty of Economics who want to build ties with relevant Saint Mary’s programs at both undergraduate and graduate levels.
The Language Centre is also considering building a customized short-term program that focuses on English training, intercultural communication, or other specific subjects. SWU students could potentially start taking part in language training programs as early as next summer (2019).
Saint Mary’s was first introduced to SWU in June 2018 with the support of Nitchawan (Pan) Sriviboone, Trade Commissioner at the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, who identified the institutions as a good match for Saint Mary’s University in terms of partnerships.
Saint Mary’s hosts celebration of Halifax - Zhuhai partnership
Approximately 100 friends and guests gathered at the Patrick Power Library on Monday, December 3rd to celebrate the strong ties between the Halifax Regional Municipality and the city of Zhuhai, China.
Dr. Malcolm Butler, Deputy Mayor Tony Mancini and John Rogers, Interim President & CEO, Halifax Partnership each welcomed guests and the international delegates with the launch of a photo exhibit Charming Zhuhai, which is on display this month in the Library.
Halifax Mayor Mike Savage and Zhuhai Mayor Yao Yiesheng signed a partnership agreement during the Mayor’s most recent visit to China in June 2018. This agreement aligns with the province’s Nova Scotia – China Engagement Strategy and friendship agreement with Guangdong province, where Zhuhai is located. Zhuhai offers many complementary sectors to Halifax, including logistics, information technology, bio-pharmaceuticals, and tourism.
Saint Mary’s long-standing relationship with Beijing Normal University - Zhuhai was highlighted, as was its standing as one of Canada’s most internationals schools.
Saint Mary’s alumni appointed to Supreme Court positions in Nova Scotia
Congratulations are in order for two Saint Mary’s alumni who were both appointed as Supreme Court judges in Nova Scotia.
Darlene Jamieson, Q.C., managing partner of Merrick Jamieson Sterns Washington & Mahody, is appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia in Halifax. She replaces Justice K. Coady, who elected to become a supernumerary judge effective November 5, 2018. Justice Jamieson graduated from Saint Mary's University with a B.A. (summa cum laude) in 1985.
Scott Norton, Q.C., a partner at Stewart McKelvey, is appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia in Pictou. He replaces Justice N.M. Scaravelli, who elected to become a supernumerary judge effective December 16, 2016. Justice Norton previously served as the Vice-Chair of Saint Mary's University.
Read the official release announcing the appointments.
Saint Mary's home to YMCA Peace Medal winner and champion for peace
Representatives from Saint Mary’s University recently participated in a conference on peace in Northern Ireland. The conference, “Twenty Years of Peace: Progress and Possibilities in Northern Ireland,” took place at Yale University on November 29 and 30.
The symposium brought together academics, community leaders, politicians and architects of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, which in 1998 marked a formal end to the conflict in Northern Ireland.
“Our Northern Ireland Peace Education Program has existed for 14 of the past 20 years since the Good Friday Agreement,” notes Bridget Brownlow, SMU’s Conflict Resolution Advisor and President of Peaceful Schools International.
She and Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray, President and Vice-Chancellor of Saint Mary’s, attended as invited discussants at the symposium on Yale’s campus in New Haven, Connecticut. Dr. Summerby-Murray’s academic research and teaching interests include cultural and historical geography in Northern Ireland; and he has been a strong champion for SMU’s collaboration with Peaceful Schools International, as well as experiential learning and global engagement.
Brownlow, who recently received the 2018 Peace Medal from the YMCA of Greater Halifax/Dartmouth in November, was also part of a public panel session. Her session at the Yale event , “The Future(s) of Northern Ireland,” was chaired by Dr. Richard N. Hasse, an American diplomat long involved in efforts toward Northern Ireland’s peace process.
Participants included Simon Coveney, Tánaiste (deputy head) of the government of Ireland; Karen Bradley, British MP and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland; General John de Chastelain, a member of the International Advisory Board for Peaceful Schools International; and others.
“My role was to speak to the unique and progressive nature of our peace education programming, whereby we are sharing the same peace education resources locally as we are with children in Northern Ireland,” says Brownlow.
“We have 14 years of very positive relationships with educators and more than 20 primary schools in Belfast, and those relationships are as strong as ever. It’s not unusual to hear people there say ‘the world has forgotten about us’. It’s always very reassuring that they know we at Saint Mary’s University and Peaceful Schools International have not forgotten about the people living in a post-conflict Northern Ireland.”
Saint Mary’s is also keen to continue a working relationship with researchers at Yale in relation to peace education. Brownlow and Dr. Bonnie Weir, a political science professor at Yale, are looking at ways for the two universities to collaborate.
Last month, with support from SMU and SMUSA, Peaceful Schools International launched three new storybooks written and illustrated by three Halifax junior high students. The resource books will be distributed to elementary schools in Nova Scotia and during the next SMU visit to Northern Ireland in February.
The books have generated a great deal of interest – more detail can be found in these recent media reports:
Halifax students produce books to help promote peaceful schools
(CBC Nova Scotia)·Kids books created by kids (CBC Facebook)
N.S. girl pens picture books to help other kids with conflict resolution
(CTV News Network)
New report examines Sobey School’s impact on co-operative businesses
Saint Mary's hosts public panel on international institutions
Saint Mary's University's recently hosted an engaging public panel discussion, that serviced as a precursor to the Halifax International Security Forum three-day annual conference.
The panel, entitled Discord, Disruptions, Disorder: A World Without International Institutions, took place on November 15th in the McNally Theatre Auditorium. The event is the result of a partnership between the Halifax International Security Forum, Dalhousie University and Saint Mary's.
“The goal of the Forum is to start conversations between decision-makers and opinion-leaders from around the world that help shape foreign policy,” said Peter Van Praagh, President of the Halifax International Security Forum. “Our partnership with Dalhousie and Saint Mary’s ensures that tomorrow’s leaders have a voice in those discussions.”
Mercedes Stephenson, host of The West Block on Global News, moderated the discussion.
Panellists included:
Kenan Rahmani, an advisor to Syrian civil society organizations, most notably The White Helmets;
Ayman Mhanna, Executive Director of the Samir Kassir Foundation in Beruit;
Antonio Ramalho da Roche, Professor of International Relations at the University of Brasilia; and
Daouda Sembene, former Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund.
“As a city with a truly global outlook, Halifax is a fitting site for this esteemed gathering of thinkers and problem solvers,” said Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray, President and Vice-Chancellor of Saint Mary’s University. “We are extremely proud to host this year’s very timely public debate over the future of our global institutions.
The Halifax International Security Forum is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Washington, DC.
Sobey School of Business MBA ranks #8 in the world for sustainability
The Sobey School of Business is eighth in the world for sustainability, according to the recently released Corporate Knights Better World MBA ranking.
The eight place finish marks the highest ranking yet for the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary’s University. The school attributes its success to the way sustainable development and ethics are deeply embedded in its courses, the strong ethnic and gender diversity of its student and faculty, and the faculty’s extensive research on sustainability themes. Corporate Knights assessed 141 business schools across 25 countries for its rankings.
“Placed as we are here on the east coast of Canada, the impacts of climate change are strongly felt. At the same time, our province is a leader in immigration, and has a deep history in co-operative and alternate business models. We understand how important sustainability must be in business today,” noted Dean Harjeet Bhabra. “We are proud of our faculty’s strengths in international research and ethics, and the growing expertise in social enterprise development at Saint Mary’s, which have helped us achieve this recognition.”
The Sobey MBA program ranked second in Canada, with Schulich, at York University, placing first nationally. Warwick University in Exeter, UK, was ranked first in the world
Corporate Knights introduced two new metrics to this year’s ranking: the gender and racial diversity of graduate business department faculty. Such diversity can influence student perception of what leadership looks like, and means that business schools can model meaningful standards for more diverse corporate boards and management.
According to Corporate Knights, The University of Connecticut's School of Business and the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax led the way on racial diversity with 51 percent of faculty identified as visible minorities.
Participating schools were graded on five indicators: the number of institutes and centres dedicated to sustainable development; the percentage of core courses that integrate sustainable development; faculty research publications and citations on sustainable development themes; and faculty gender and racial diversity.
In 2014, the Sobey school’s faculty unanimously voted to become signatories to the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Management Education initiative (PRME). A central part of this commitment is a pledge to advance the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
For Saint Mary’s and the Sobey School, the ranking was helped by research and work conducted through the school’s centres: the Atlantic Research Group on Economics of Immigration, Aging and Diversity, the new International Centre for Co-operative Management, the Centre for Leadership Excellence, the David Sobey Centre for Innovation in Retailing and Services, and the Centre of Excellence in Accounting and Reporting for Co-operatives.
Saint Mary’s University celebrates the new Viola Desmond Bursary
African-Nova Scotian students attending Saint Mary’s University will soon have more support available to them as a result of a newly established bursary.
The Viola Desmond Bursary was announced on November 8, the date of Viola’s heroic anti-discrimination action in 1946. The bursary is fully-endowed and will be given out every year to full-time African-Nova Scotian students at Saint Mary’s.
“At Saint Mary’s, community is at the heart of what we do. We are very proud to be part of commemorating Viola Desmond, and to have a financial award named in her honour,” said Dr. Malcolm Butler, Vice-President, Academic and Research. “This award will assist generations of African-Nova Scotian entrepreneurs attending Saint Mary’s on their path to success.”
The initial award amount will mark the year of Viola Desmond’s anti-segregation action, 1946, with students receiving $1,946. While this award is not renewable, it may be awarded to the same student more than once.
While preference for the bursary will be given to students in the Sobey School of Business, the bursary may also be awarded to students in programs featuring entrepreneurship. Preference will also be given to female students from Halifax County. Students must also have a financial need.
This award was established with the permission of the Desmond Family and through the generosity of The Honourable Wilfred P. Moore, Q.C., LL.D., and Ms. Jane Adams Ritcey.
“Viola Desmond has been very good to our city, our province and our country,” said Senator Wilfred Moore. “My family is very pleased to assist Saint Mary’s University in this most noble virtue—the transfer of knowledge. We do so in keeping with the bedrock tradition of Saint Mary’s, offering a hand up.”
Spark Zone recognized as World’s Best in Entrepreneurship Skills
The Spark Zone, a sandbox to foster social innovations and business ideas, has been recognized as the world’s best in enterprise and entrepreneurship skill-building.
The staff of the Spark Zone accepted the award in Houston, Texas from the International Education Business Partnership Network. The IPN Global Best Awards was held October 17 through 19 at the Houston Space Centre.
“This award recognizes Spark Zone’s success in supporting students to learn about entrepreneurship through not only academics but also by introducing them to our great mentors and networks,” noted Jason Turner, Spark Zone manager. “This global award is an endorsement of our ability to guide students in creating viable businesses. We are really proud of the programs and initiatives we’ve introduced in Nova Scotia’s post-secondary institutions.”
Spark Zone is a partnership between Saint Mary's University, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Nova Scotia Community College, Mount Saint Vincent University, the Atlantic School of Theology and University of King's College, with Saint Mary's serving as the host institution. The Spark Zone is funded by the Nova Scotia Department of Labour and Advanced Education.
“Nova Scotia’s unique mix of industry and academia, and the ease with which the two come together, is what makes our innovation story compelling,” said Hon. Labi Kousoulis, Minister, Labour and Advanced Education. “The Spark Zone is a great example of innovation in action, and I’m pleased to see it recognized internationally for its leadership.”
The Global Best Award submissions are evaluated on how well the programs deliver the following criteria:
• Enhanced employability
• Extent of experiential learning
• Knowledge transfer of employability skills
• Youth involvement in design and operation of the partnership
• Replicability of the partnership
• Recognition of excellence
The competition includes other entrepreneurship centres and service providers from across the world with winners from six regions attending the conference.
About the Spark Zone
Utilizing physical and virtual spaces, The Spark Zone brings together students and community members to create, develop and ultimately launch business ideas and social innovations. Partners at Saint Mary’s University, NSCAD University, Mount Saint Vincent University, Nova Scotia Community College, University of King’s College, and the Atlantic School of Theology provide opportunities for people to connect and then nurture those connections as ideas become reality.