Love In This Club: Kwantlen Entrepreneurial Student Association

KESA offers outside-the-classroom education for its members

“Book smarts and an education are a great base. However, they don’t teach you anything about the real world.”

So says Jonathan Fader, Director of IT for one of KPU’s most enterprising and ambitious clubs, the Kwantlen Entrepreneurial Student Association. Established last fall, KESA continues to provide an opportunity for entrepreneurial-minded students to “develop their skills for the real world,” through networking and seminars.

The distinction between “academic” and “real-world” learning is important to Fader, who believes club members—even those who are already enrolled in a KPU business program—can learn valuable lessons through participating in the club’s activities. One of the ways he, and the other KESA executives, hope to achieve this is through, “connecting students with business owners and professionals in the industry.”

“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” says Fader about creating a successful business. As a business owner himself, he speaks from experience. “[KESA] members are extremely connected. As such, if you really want to be in the business world or own your own business, we are the club to join.”

KESA is appropriately one of the most professional clubs at KPU. As of September there are currently five members of the executive team, with approximately 70 more people on the club’s “mailing list.” This is a rare feat for a Kwantlen student organization, most of whom struggle to retain a dozen members and up to three dedicated executives.

Though KESA meetings already tend to attract a large number of students, Fader believes the club’s upcoming plans will entice even more students to join, swelling their ranks further. Regarding these future events, Fader says the club will be hosting a “Movember fundraiser,” in addition to hosting guest speakers at their general meetings.

One such guest speaker will be Dean Ritchey, a man who “owns his own corporate consulting firm specializing in executive training.” Ritchey will be attending the meeting on Oct. 2, and his experience in the business world will hopefully prove to benefit to the club’s aspiring entrepreneurs.

Richey’s presentation will follow a tradition of KESA speakers, as in previous semester the club has held seminars “where financial planners and advisers came in to discuss financial planning for students,” says Fader. These seminars “had about 20 to 30 people show up, many of whom stayed to ask questions long after it was over.” These go-getting club members were able to pick the minds of business professionals for lengthy periods of time, something they likely could not afford in the confines of a classroom setting.

Fader has high hopes for the future of the organization, and even went to say that in the “distant future” he would like it “to be compared to something like the Harvard Business club.” Sounds right for a young executive of an entrepreneurial student organization, doesn’t it?

For now, Fader is content with the short term goal of “overtaking the Kwantlen Gaming Guild as the largest club on campus.”

For those KPU students whose entrepreneurial minds have been piqued, KESA meetings take place in Room 116 of Surrey campus on Fridays from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Just be sure to bring a positive attitude and a big imagination.