* Please note this Event has been cancelled*

Presentation Details

Date: Thursday April 19th, 2012

Place: YWCA, 535 Hornby St Vancouver BC

Presented by Winnie Lai & Lauren Kulokas

Winnie Lai comes from a diverse background including studies in Engineering Physics as well as Commerce at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. She is the Co-Founder of Clinicbook, an online service for patients to book appointments with their health practitioners instantly for free. As an enthusiastic entrepreneurship advocate, Winnie serves on the Board of the Vancouver Enterprise Forum and leads a group for young entrepreneurs called VEF Momentum. She has also previously volunteered at schools in underserved rural areas in Kenya. In her spare time she enjoys snowboarding, skiing, rock climbing, traveling, and trying different cuisines.

Lauren Kulokas is the Chief Operating Officer at Energy Aware Technology Inc, a company she co-founded with several other UBC students in 2005.  Energy Aware develops products to promote sustainability, and their first product is an In-Home Energy Display unit called the PowerTab.  By increasing awareness of the way people use household electricity, the PowerTab can help consumers reduce their energy waste. The company began as part of a UBC entrepreneurship course called New Venture Design (APSC 486) and has since become an award winning company with customers in Australia, North America and Europe.  Energy Aware’s PowerTab is also featured in Millennium Water, the home of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Village.  Lauren graduated from UBC in 2006 with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering with a Minor in Commerce.

Making the Leap from Engineering to Entrepreneurship – Find Your Way to the Startup World

Ever dreamed of being your own boss?  More and more small businesses are fuelling today’s economy, and with the plethora of resources available to budding entrepreneurs there’s no reason you can’t take your career into your own hands and venture into the world of business ownership.

Hear from two women who went from engineering students to navigating the start-up world and learned some of the ins and outs of getting a business going in BC along the way.  Winnie and Lauren will share their experiences and discuss practical ways you can leverage your engineering background to succeed in business.
This session will cover things to consider when transitioning from a technical to a managerial role, discuss strategies for getting your start-up off the ground, and highlight many of the resources available to BC entrepreneurs.