Young Entrepreneurs Leadership Launchpad (YELL) Class – October 22, 2014

COQUITLAM, BC – With a passion for fostering youth entrepreneurship and leadership, SPF Precut Lumber General Manager, Mo Amir, spoke to a classroom of Grade 12 students at Pinetree Secondary School in Coquitlam, British Columbia, as part of a session for the Young Entrepreneurs Leadership Launchpad (YELL). Mo lectured on idea generation and branding, while providing a framework for brainstorming as the students embark upon their own original business idea, which is the major project for the students in this credited course. The students concluded the session with a thoughtful discussion and poignant questions for Mo, which exemplified their overall engagement and passion in the program.

The Young Entrepreneur Leadership Launchpad (YELL) was founded by three Canadian entrepreneurs (Amit Sandhu, Rattan Bagga, and Punit Dhillon) passionate about creating a professional development program for high school students across Canada. The concept rests on the collective efforts of school district administrators, teachers, parents, and business and community leaders. The program is a hands-on, experiential accelerator for high school students interested in gaining knowledge and development experience in all areas of business and entrepreneurship. In addition, YELL helps students interact with others across the school system and like-minded individuals, helps to build a community-based framework to enhance innovation, and provides a learning and development structure to foster innovation and advancement for future generations.

YELL is a registered Not-For-Profit Organization led by a passionate team of volunteers that works with school districts to develop customized learning programs that may be integrated into existing credited business courses. YELL brings mentors from the business community into classrooms to discuss their experience and best practices in all aspects of business ranging from corporate finance to social entrepreneurship. A level of sophistication is added through the use of the Desire2Learn LeaP platform (formerly, Knowillage), which enables seamless and transparent use of any content, while using cutting-edge adaptive learning methodologies, allowing for a fully-personalized learning experience, maximum student engagement, and results.

Global Buyers Mission 2014 – September 4-6, 2014

WHISTLER, BC – At the annual Global Buyers Mission in Whistler, British Columbia, SPF Precut Lumber prominently exhibited and promoted Canadian softwood lumber exports to international buyers from all over the world. Throughout the event, SPF Precut Lumber had the opportunity to meet with new and existing customers, long-standing suppliers, and other important stakeholders. The SPF Precut Lumber team consisted of President Muhammad Amir, Fareed Amir, and Mo Amir. As it was the largest Global Buyers Mission to date, including 800 qualified international buyers from 20 countries around the world, SPF Precut Lumber – as a leader of BC softwood lumber exports – was well-positioned to promote BC forestry products.

SPF Precut Lumber President, Muhammad Amir, also had the opportunity to speak with BC Minister for International Trade and Minister Responsible for the Asia Pacific Strategy, the Honourable Teresa Wat.

A BC Wood initiative, the Global Buyers Mission is a three-day, invitation-only networking / educational forum and tradeshow event developed to bring together qualified international buyers of wood products from around the world, with Canadian manufacturers and exporters of wood products. As a high-profile exhibitor for many years, SPF Precut Lumber takes great pride in leveraging its strong global reputation to promote Canadian forestry products overseas at this annual event.

TiE Young Entrepreneurs 2014 Global Business Plan Competition – June 21-22, 2014

VANCOUVER, BC – As a lead mentor for the TiE Young Entrepreneur (TYE) Program (Vancouver chapter), SPF Precut Lumber’s Mo Amir coached INTI to win the TYE Vancouver’s Venture Challenge, earning the team the right to represent TYE Vancouver in the global finals of the TiE Young Entrepreneurs 2014 Global Business Plan Competition. This year, the TYE 2014 Global Business Plan Competition was hosted in Vancouver, British Columbia – marking the first time the event was held in Canada.

Competing against 22 other teams from across the globe, including cities in the USA, UK, and India, INTI would go onto place third in the competition, held at the world-famous Telus World of Science on the beautiful False Creek waterfront in Vancouver.

INTI is comprised of highschool students Arjan Sandhu, Sajin Parmar, Gurjap Thandi, Ian Yip, and Shiv Vashisht. Winning TYE Vancouver’s regional finals with a business proposal for their product, Astraea, an intuitive navigational tool for the visually-impaired, INTI had even developed preliminary prototypes of the product. The product consisted of a smart-handle that can be attached to any walking cane and computerized glasses that interact with each other to illuminate a newfound sense of environment for the visually-impaired user. With the sophistication, convenience, and price tag to replace costly seeing-eye dogs, the concept of Astraea was developed with feedback from the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. INTI even generated interest from technology news site, Gizmag.

As a global competition that engages 700 students across 23 cities around the globe, INTI’s third-place finish was a stunning accomplishment as the team competed in its home town.
SPF Precut Lumber sponsored the Global Business Plan Competition event, in addition to the regional finals earlier in 2014.

The TiE Young Entrpreneur (TYE) Program is a one-of-a-kind entrepreneur program focused on empowering teenage youth with leadership skills and business basics. The powerful curriculum delivers the essentials of business management in a simple manner by lecturers who are business leaders themselves. The insight into the world of entrepreneurship that high-school students receive over the course of the program gives them a sense of preparedness that will be invaluable for their future success in the business world.

TYE is one of the programs under TiE, a not-for-profit global organization with a mission to foster and support entrepreneurship. TiE was born spontaneously when a handful of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs with roots in the Indian subcontinent met by chance in 1992, conceiving the idea of an organization that would bring together business leaders for the purpose of networking.

TiE is represented through chapters all over the world, including in the United States, India, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Israel, Malaysia, and Austria. In total, TiE has 61 chapters in 18 countries with over 11,000 professional members. TiE Vancouver is TiE’s first Canadian chapter.

TiE Young Entrepreneurs Venture Challenge
– May 10, 2014

VANCOUVER, BC – Identified as the “Dragon’s Den for high school students” (CBC Radio), the TiE Young Entrepreneurs’ (TYE) Venture Challenge is the culmination of an intense 8-month program fostering entrepreneurship amongst young adults (aged 15-18). After a primer in business fundamentals (finance, marketing, distribution, etc.), teams of 4-5 students develop a business plan and presentation with the guidance of a business-savvy mentor. The teams compete against each other in a regional final, judged by esteemed business personalities in the Vancouver business community. The winning team from the regional challenge then secures the opportunity to represent TYE Vancouver in the TYE Global Business Plan Competition, where over 25 student teams representing their respective cities from all over the world, compete for a US $10,000 grand prize.

This year, SPF Precut Lumber acted as one of the event sponsors.

SPF Precut Lumber’s Mo Amir reprised his role as a mentor for one of the TYE Vancouver groups, INTI, consisting of high school students Arjan Sandhu, Sajin Parmar, Gurjap Thandi, Ian Yip, and Shiv Vashisht. After months of revisions and practice, all of the student teams gathered at Simon Fraser University’s Goldcorp Centre for Arts in Downtown Vancouver on May 10, 2014 for the regional competition to bid for the right to represent TYE Vancouver on the global stage.

INTI delivered an excellent presentation with a proposal for an innovative navigational tool for the visually-impaired called “Astraea”. Amongst a highly-competitive field of teams, INTI won the competition, as decided from a judging panel comprised of high-profile entrepreneurs and venture capitalists.

Bruce Croxon (a notable “Dragon” on CBC’s Dragon’s Den) was a keynote speaker for the event, as he highly praised the INTI team for its ingenuity and passion.

TYE is one of the programs under TiE. TiE-Vancouver is a not-for-profit BC organization with a mission to foster and support entrepreneurship. TiE as a concept was born spontaneously when a handful of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs with roots in the Indian subcontinent met by chance in 1992, conceiving the idea of an organization that would bring together high achievers for the purpose of networking.

TiE-Vancouver shares the values and philosophy of the Global TiE organization represented all around the world including the United States, India, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Malaysia, and Austria. In total, TiE has 61 chapters in 18 countries, with over 11,000 professional members. TiE-Vancouver is TiE’s first Canadian chapter.

Sajin Parmar, Gurjap Thandi, SPF Precut Lumber’s Mo Amir, Arjan Sandhu, Shiv Vashisht, Ian Yip.

Dragon Den’s Bruce Croxon with Mo Amir

9th Annual Dubai Wood Show – April 8-10, 2014

DUBAI, UAE – Once again, SPF Precut Lumber exhibited at the 2014 Dubai International Wood & Wood Machinery Show, the regional landmark event for wood trade and investment at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (Dubai World Trade Centre) in the United Arab Emirates. This year, the tradeshow included 8000+ participants from over 40 countries representing over 500 companies.

As an international ambassador of Canadian softwood lumber, SPF Precut Lumber enjoys a majority market share of British Columbian lumber shipped to the Middle East. As a regular exhibitor at the Dubai Wood Show, SPF Precut Lumber’s prominent presence and non-stop foot-traffic through its exhibition site was certainly indicative of its market leadership.

SPF Precut Lumber President, Muhammad Amir, and Sales Manager for Asia-Pacific, Fareed Amir, represented the company at the trade show, meeting various stakeholders and partners across the Middle East and Indian Subcontinent who attended the show.

As one of the best branded, most reputable, and highly outstanding exporters of Canadian softwood products to 20 countries around the world, SPF Precut Lumber is humbled by the impressive organization of the Dubai Wood Show, which allows it to meet with much of its diverse customer base in the Middle East, while also developing new relationships. In addition, SPF Precut Lumber was proud to market the products of its North American supply-chain partners at this high-profile exhibition.

As SPF Precut Lumber continues to create new market space for Canadian wood product exports to the Middle East, it looks forward to the continued development of the Dubai Wood Show for years to come.

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