Asia-Pacific Student Entrepreneurship Society

ASES Australia Summit 2009

Day One

Networking and Creative-thinking Session with Dr Peter Bryant and Ashish Mitra

Our esteemed faculty advisor, Dr Peter Bryant and his friend Ashish Mitra hosted a fantastic session where delegates were placed in random groups and had to come up with creative ways in which they could match a crazy need with a certain market. Can you think of how to sell healthy fast food (need) to the retired population (market)?

Delegates also presented their chapter reports to the cohort, where each country got to gain an insight into the activities and status of chapters from America, China, India, Taiwan, Philippines, Singapore and so on.

Day Two

Emotional Intelligence Workshop, Manly Visit + The Masterchef Challenge

The Emotional Intelligence workshop ran by Ainsley Gilkes (Founder of GLP and currently a Senior Consultant at our fantastic sponsors OneSteel) provided insight to the delegates regarding how to use emotions in the workplace to our advantage and the delegates engaged in various activities.

The delegation then made their way to Manly where they experienced the beautiful sea-side town.

The MasterChef challenge was an amazing event where each group had to come up with a few dishes for the rest of the cohort to have for dinner.

Day Three

Speaker Day at the University

Delegates were educated and inspired by various entrepreneurs from ASES network including:

- Dave Cunningham from OurExplorer

- Valerie Khoo from the Sydney Writer’s Centre

- Tim Pethick from Nudie Juice

Delegates got to pick the brains of three very successful entrepreneurs and also experience what life is like at Macquarie University.

Day Four

Jon Marshall, Commonwealth Bank and Google

Students were inspired by Jon Marshall, former GE Leader and current entrepreneur in the Early Childhood Education sector, at the beautiful facilities at CBA.

Various representatives from CBA also educated the delegation regarding the current crisis and how to get funding, how CBA was protected from the crisis and so on.

The Google tour was fantastic as delegates saw Australia’s Number One Workplace, and this was followed by a wonderful presentation from the founder of Lonely Planet, Tony Wheeler.

Day Five

Australian Technology Park, Centrepoint Tower Lunch and the FRANKTeam Workshop

Delegates visited the Australian Technology Park and also were hosted by ATP Innovations – a technology commercialisation hub that supports emerging businesses. Delegates learned about this incubator and some of the start-ups that ATPi is assisting.

The Centrepoint Tower lunch was described as the best meal of the Summit by some delegates, particularly as the views of Sydney and the harbour on the gorgeous day made it that much better.

The FRANKTeam workshop hosted by Talia was a great learning curve for delegates in starting their own business.

Day Six

ResMed, E-pitch and closing dinner

Delegates visited ResMed at Bella Vista who shared insight into their industry and their current status as powerhouses in the sleep device manufacturing market.

The e-pitch session was a lot of fun and saw the groups pitch to the rest of the delegation how they can use straws, string, blue-tack and other basic items into fantastic and cutting-edge products.

The closing dinner was a nice ending to the Summit as delegates dressed in traditional clothing and shared a nice meal.