Chamber co-op student wins Future Innovator Challenge
Jan 16, 2018 - Cyrus Lee, The Chamber's co-op student and third year University of Victoria business student, and his team won the post secondary category at the Future Innovator Challenge, presented by Island Savings in collaboration with the South Island Prosperity Project. The team won for Lug, a person-to-person shipping app that allows users to crowd-source deliveries - like those made on Used.ca - from the community, thus enhancing the local marketplace and saving costs.
Future Innovator Challenge asks post-secondary and high school students to come up with creative solutions for some of Greater Victoria's challenges in categories like transportation, housing, human health, environmental health, and economic resiliency. |
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Q&A with Cyrus Lee
How did your group come up with the idea for Lug?
The idea stemmed from our team member Josh, who lives on the Sunshine Coast. When he moved to Victoria, there was furniture that he needed to bring over from the coast. But Josh didn't have a truck to bring it over and shipping prices were really expensive.
What are your next steps regarding Lug?
We've been trying to keep up with school for the past couple of days, so we haven't had the time to sit down to talk about the future of Lug. But we're still extremely passionate about our project, I think if the project garners more attention from the public, we would most likely continue looking for ways we could build upon this project.
What did you learn from the experience (planning, presenting)?
It took a very long time for our presentation to get to where it was during the day of the event. I felt that it was important that we trusted one another through the planning and presenting phases. Despite winning the competition, we still believe that we have many things to learn, but the Future Innovator Challenge was definitely an awesome learning experience.
How did your co-op experience at The Chamber help you with this project?
The co-op experience definitely allowed me to look at different aspects of how to begin a project. Through helping to create The Chamber's new website, I learned about online targeted advertising, so that's one of the ways we would promote our app. I also consulted The Chamber's Business Directory when we were looking for different services for Lug. For example, we need an e-commerce service for the app, and Chamber member Bambora became a viable option. Most importantly, I learned about the Future Innovator Challenge through The Chamber!
Anything else you'd like to add?
I believe that there are many students just like us who are really interested in the field of entrepreneurship and coming up with new ideas. I would like to thank the people over at the South Island Prosperity Project for the opportunity for like-minded students to share our ideas.
In addition to this, we are also hoping to reach out to people in the community that would be able to assist in this project going forth. You can reach out to us at lugshippingapp@gmail.com.
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The staff at The Chamber is really proud of everything Cyrus and his team accomplished. Do you want your own Cyrus? Through the Canada Summer Jobs Program as a business you could be eligible to receive 50% of minimum wage reimbursement and, if you're a not-for-profit, you could receive up to 100% reimbursement.
How did your group come up with the idea for Lug?
The idea stemmed from our team member Josh, who lives on the Sunshine Coast. When he moved to Victoria, there was furniture that he needed to bring over from the coast. But Josh didn't have a truck to bring it over and shipping prices were really expensive.
What are your next steps regarding Lug?
We've been trying to keep up with school for the past couple of days, so we haven't had the time to sit down to talk about the future of Lug. But we're still extremely passionate about our project, I think if the project garners more attention from the public, we would most likely continue looking for ways we could build upon this project.
What did you learn from the experience (planning, presenting)?
It took a very long time for our presentation to get to where it was during the day of the event. I felt that it was important that we trusted one another through the planning and presenting phases. Despite winning the competition, we still believe that we have many things to learn, but the Future Innovator Challenge was definitely an awesome learning experience.
How did your co-op experience at The Chamber help you with this project?
The co-op experience definitely allowed me to look at different aspects of how to begin a project. Through helping to create The Chamber's new website, I learned about online targeted advertising, so that's one of the ways we would promote our app. I also consulted The Chamber's Business Directory when we were looking for different services for Lug. For example, we need an e-commerce service for the app, and Chamber member Bambora became a viable option. Most importantly, I learned about the Future Innovator Challenge through The Chamber!
Anything else you'd like to add?
I believe that there are many students just like us who are really interested in the field of entrepreneurship and coming up with new ideas. I would like to thank the people over at the South Island Prosperity Project for the opportunity for like-minded students to share our ideas.
In addition to this, we are also hoping to reach out to people in the community that would be able to assist in this project going forth. You can reach out to us at lugshippingapp@gmail.com.
****
The staff at The Chamber is really proud of everything Cyrus and his team accomplished. Do you want your own Cyrus? Through the Canada Summer Jobs Program as a business you could be eligible to receive 50% of minimum wage reimbursement and, if you're a not-for-profit, you could receive up to 100% reimbursement.
