The SIFE Ryerson team won big at the 2009 Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship National Competition.

Creating innovative business ideas comes naturally to Ted Rogers School of Management students.

That’s why it’s no surprise that the student group DECA Ryerson took home gold at the 2009 DECA U International Career Development Conference, a networking and competition event for business students.

On Canadian soil, the Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) Ryerson group won seven awards at the 2009 Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE) National Competition, where teams develop economic and learning opportunities for chosen target audiences in their community.

Forty teams participated from universities across Canada. The SIFE Ryerson team took several top spots at the competition, winning first place in the HSBC SIFE Financial Education Challenge, second place in the TD SIFE Entrepreneurship Challenge, second in the Walmart SIFE for the Greener Good Challenge and second in the overall competition.

On Monday night, Ryerson students had the chance to get entrepreneurial advice and insight from business mogul and Dragon’s Den judge Robert Herjavec.

Herjavec, along with Stuart Coxe, the executive producer of Dragon’s Den, appeared at the Ted Rogers School of Management with Professor Sean Wise to discuss topics ranging from the show, to how Herjavec made his fortune, to advice for young entrepreneurs.

The sold-out Dragon’s Den event is just part of Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) Ryerson’s Global Entrepreneurship Week. SIFE aims to create new economic opportunity for Ryerson students by implementing innovative projects, and providing the opportunity for students to gain hands-on practical experience throughout events, markets and competitions. “It’s experience like this that lets students take what they learn in the classroom into real life,” said Neil Wolf, Associate Dean for the Ted Rogers School of Management.