荔枝视频

By trying to create a business to help low-income families, Miranda Mantey improved her own life.

鈥淚 learned so much from that experience,鈥� says the  student. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so important to dream and challenge the 鈥榳hy鈥� behind things. It鈥檚 looking at something and saying: 鈥業s that the way we have to do it? Is there something we can come up with that鈥檚 better than that?鈥欌��

Along with two other students, the 21-year-old created a business called Bundles of Hope in 2015 as part of a class on entrepreneurship at Haskayne. 鈥淥ur premise was that there is a cycle of poverty related to diapers and low-income families,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey can鈥檛 afford diapers and if they don鈥檛 have diapers, they can鈥檛 send their kids to daycare 鈥� and then one of the parents can't work, and it鈥檚 kind of this giant circle.鈥�

The idea was to hire low-income mothers to produce baby swaddling blankets, says Mantey. 鈥淭hey would be able to work out of their homes on their own time and they wouldn鈥檛 have to commute.鈥�

Part of the proceeds from each blanket would be used to donate a day鈥檚 worth of diapers for one family to the 荔枝视频 Food Bank, she says. 鈥淲e actually did donate 250 diapers, and we provided work for 20 hours for a low-income mother who was a refugee, so we did have a little bit of traction.鈥�

Despite selling about 50 blankets, the project ran into difficulties that included finding a stable and affordable fabric supplier. It proved to be too time-consuming for Mantey and her partners to iron out such problems while trying to balance their lives as students with part-time jobs.

Although Bundles of Hope was halted in October, Mantey is tentatively exploring ways the project could eventually be revived. 鈥淚 still believe the heart of the company, and the idea behind it, could be really successful,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t didn鈥檛 work out at this time because of where we are in life right now.鈥�

The initiative is an example of how Haskayne creates opportunities for students to gain hands-on experience of being entrepreneurs, says Mantey. 鈥淚 think the best thing that came out of it was experiencing all the intricacies of starting a business and how to get things done,鈥� she says.

鈥淚n school, you learn things on paper 鈥� you learn about management or finance in one class, and operations in another class, and so on. But you won't fully understand how they all integrate together until you actually do it yourself.鈥�

The project earned a Viewer鈥檚 Choice Award in 2015 at the inaugural RBC Fast Pitch Competition, which is held each year by the  at Haskayne. 鈥淢iranda and her group had to pitch to some of the top venture capitalists, bankers and entrepreneurs in 荔枝视频,鈥� says Houston Peschl, an instructor of entrepreneurship and innovation at the faculty.

鈥淪he really stood out from day one as somebody who was incredibly insightful and passionate about their idea. I think Miranda is a perfect example of someone who exhibited entrepreneurial thinking, developed some resiliency and really learned a lot about themselves.鈥�

Having Bundles of Hope on her resume directly led to Mantey being hired by ATB Financial, where she is employed part-time as a co-ordinator of business innovation. She hopes to work full-time for the company once she graduates in 2018 with a Bachelor of Commerce in Risk Management and Insurance.

鈥淚 absolutely love my job, and it all came from my work with Bundles of Hope,鈥� she says. 鈥淵es, we 鈥榝ailed,鈥� but I learned so much 鈥� and it started an entirely new career path for me.鈥�