Student scheme a self-starter

Andre D'Cruz set up Goldmines to foster entrepreneurship among students at AUT. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Auckland University of Technology student president, Andre D'Cruz is passionate about fostering creativity and helping students develop money-making ideas during the recession.

D'Cruz set up a student-driven organisation called Goldmines to foster entrepreneurship within the university.

'It's going to be really difficult for them to find jobs this year and next year as they graduate and the idea is that if we foster entrepreneurship enough, then they will be able to make money their own way by growing a business, because even in a recession there is opportunity to grow business. And once the economy gets better they can do really well for themselves," he said.

D'Cruz set up Goldmines when he realised students had the business ideas but did not know what was required to make them commercially viable.

"Somebody's got to take the initiative to solve the issue."

Faced with the prospect of a tight job market, universities accept that more tertiary students will stay on to complete postgraduate courses next year.

In response to this - and also because they see it as important to develop entrepreneurship - they are developing programmes to help young entrepreneurs make their ideas fly.

The numbers of domestic and international students taking up a Master of Business Administration at the AUT peaked this year and course director Ken Lee said this was almost certainly related to the job market.

A revised entrepreneurship paper will be available to MBA students next semester and the course has been modified to encourage more innovation and decision making.

Dean of the Faculty of Business and Law Professor Des Graydon said it was important to develop entrepreneurship during periods of recession, and it was with this in mind the university has announced a $10 million venture fund to help students launch their ideas as businesses.

The fund, which will be administered by the university and a group of business executives, will enable students to apply for money to develop and innovate ideas.

Any current or former student will be able to apply for the funding next semester, regardless of whether they studied business.

Graydon points out it would allow a health student to set up a private practice, or a fashion design student to set-up a clothing line.

Interest in the University of Auckland's student-led entrepreneurship scheme (Spark) has also peaked this year.

Spark chief executive Sonali Nidamarty said students and graduates needed to think outside the traditional method of gaining employment whether it be setting up a business on their own or just enhancing their skills.

Nidamarty graduated from her double-degree in finance, economics, management and maths at the end of the 2008 and has been ardently looking for a job.

She said that even if students did not intend to launch a business of their own, learning to think entrepreneurially would give them an edge over the common student.

"It is important to see these times not as despairing but as an opportunity to make your mark."

The University of Waikato's answer to commercialising ideas is WaikatoLink, a technology transfer company that aims to maximise the economic potential of the university's intellectual property and in doing that, bridge the gap between academic research and the realisation of technology potential.

WaikatoLink's Venture Incubator focuses on high growth technologies in the AgBio, biotechnology and ICT sectors. It gives help to early stage ventures to find strategic partners, raise capital and access markets such as China and the United States.

WaikatoLink also operates The Hothouse, a technology development unit where students can undertake prototype development.

It makes the knowledge and skills of Waikato University's brightest students available to research and industry.