From Kyle Palantzas of Coburg Consultants

With the warmth of Thanksgiving top-of-mind, and our turkey hangovers behind us, Coburg dedicates this week’s blog to highlighting the efforts and giving spirit of Dalhousie’s CRMBA students.

“Giving back is extremely important for our program, especially as it matures,” says second year candidate Becky Rogez. “The more that we can get out there in the community, the more that we grow our name and our brand and the more valuable our degree becomes. Giving back also helps people become entrenched in the community that they want to live and work in.”

CRMBA students, better known as “Rowebots,” gain energy from coming together and donating their time and efforts for good causes and community betterment. From selling 50/50 tickets to participating in food and clothing drives, running marathons to hosting charity dinner galas – the Rowebots take pride in promoting good.

On tap next for these go-getters is A Toast to the Coast.

This Friday marks the 9^th year of the black tie event, a great milestone for the gala fundraising dinner that supports the Breast Cancer Foundation. Since its inception, the MBA-run soirée has raised over $60,000, with every penny staying in Atlantic Canada. This year’s goal is to raise $12,000 – an ambitious target for the ambitious Rowebots.

“Everyone who has ever participated in the event is always more than willing to help; it’s a community in and of itself that spans over 9 generations of Dal MBA grads,” says Rogez, who is co-chairing this year’s festivities. “It’s really a legacy of the program, as it stands for hope and camaraderie.”

Supporting a similar cause, the CRMBAers poured out their sweat and tears and laid it all on the line last week during The Inside Ride fundraiser – an indoor cycling challenge that raises money for children living with cancer.  Joining forces with other programs across campus, the Rowebot’s energy and enthusiasm helped raise over $12,000 for the worthy cause.

“Opportunities like these give our grad students the chance to give back to the community, promote our program, and have some fun outside the heavy course load,” says CRMBA candidate and Inside Ride Leader Irina Bojinescu. “We look forward to getting geared up in the coming months to support this great cause at other events and venues.”

However, the Rowebots don’t have to go far to make a contribution. Giving back is also engrained inside the classroom, as the CRMBA curriculum supports, encourages and even evaluates this drive to help others.

This year the program launched the Make a Difference (MAD) project, a cross-course integrative that requires students to think about how they can make a meaningful difference in the community – and then go out and actually do it.

“The Make a Difference project is a stand-out feature for the second year of our CRMBA program,” says Chaired Professor Jim Barker, who helped create the initiative. “Our students can showcase their value-creation talents and business acumen by taking a project from concept to execution, leaving a legacy they can look back on with pride.”

From ethics conferences to bottle drives, cleaning the streets to safe sex campaigns, the Rowebots are knee-deep in the planning stages of this 8-month initiative. Next week, the teams are putting their ideas centre stage and pitching to a select group of faculty and employer partners.

On an even bigger stage, some students in the Strategic Management of International Business Operations are putting together their social business ideas to compete in the annual Hult Prize. The Rowebots are going up against other students from across the globe, attempting to establish a sustainable and scalable social enterprise to combat non-communicable diseases – with the winning team taking home $1 million in seed capital.

Personally, I’m honoured to be part of this group. I applaud all our efforts, welcome new ideas and encourage positive change.