The Entrepreneurship Training Program in the School of Graduate Studies at Memorial University
By Colton Politte, Entrepreneurship Training Program Marketing Assistant, MUN
Deneice “Didan” Falconer is no stranger to the business world and tackling big projects head on. Originally from Jamaica, she received her first big taste of business while living in Japan. Far away from her home country, Didan started an online business with a focus on healthy living and found success in Jamaica while running the venture from another hemisphere.
“It was a lot of work,” Didan said, laughing a little as she described that time in her life. “I was on the other side of the world and this business was really growing back home. I had to manage with different time zones and everything from far away.”
Since Didan had this kind of experience already under her belt, one might wonder why she felt the need to take the Entrepreneurship Training Program from Memorial University, but she says it was crucial to help her really nail down how she wanted to act on her next big idea.
The Entrepreneurship Training Program exists to help kick-start small businesses in Atlantic Canada. It focuses on helping students identify and hone a great business idea, work to bring it to life, and make the business a reality. Even as someone with previous business experience, Didan credits the ETP with guiding her in identifying a new idea in her new home here in Canada.
Didan said the tools used in the ETP were pivotal. Lean Canvas, for example, offered her a way to visualize ideas quickly and plan her business from the outset, with a big picture goal and the smaller tasks that would lead her there. Her next idea is a method to help people identify goals in their lives and to find and develop the tools and skills needed to achieve them. She says that the ETP has been instrumental: it enabled her to identify something that interested her and then to run with the idea and see if it could be a viable option.
“It’s still in the beginning stages, but I know that this idea will help people find what they want in their lives,” Didan said, smiling brightly. “It’s more of a method I can go over with people to help them set good goals and then work to achieve them. It’s what I do personally to get where I want to go in life, and I know that it can help more people too.” Didan is focused on her goal of working with others to improve their lives, and she’s certain that the training available from Memorial University’s ETP program will help her get there.
To learn more about the Entrepreneurship Training Program at Memorial University, you can visit www.mun.ca/etp or contact Grace Tatigian, the program coordinator, at gtatigian@mun.ca.