Dal students trump in the boardroom

The ecstatic Yours Truly team: Martha Prange, Dade Migas, Julian Crick and Alexa Grey. (Bruce Bottomley Photo)

There was no “you’re fired,” and no bad-boy billionaire with a comb-over, but other aspects of The Apprentice rang true for four Dalhousie commerce students who triumphed in the Trumped Business Competition.

The experience truly felt, in the words of its tagline, like the “the ultimate job interview.”

“Trumped has given us an amazing portfolio of work that really impresses people,” says Alexa Grey, whose team claimed the briefcase-shaped trophy after a two-month-long competition. “Being overwhelmed, and still getting through it, was great … this is what we want to do, so it’s reassuring to know that we can do.”

Trumped is a business competition for university-level entrepreneurs based on Donald Trump’s reality show The Apprentice. Hosted by Saint Mary’s University, almost 50 university teams competed in Trumped, which like the TV show, gives competitors a series of tasks – each followed by a recap in the boardroom.

“Yours Truly”—the Dal team comprised of Alexa Grey, Martha Prange, Julian Crick, and Dade Migas—entered on a whim. The day applications were due, Mr. Crick and Mr. Migas approached Ms. Prange, asking her to fill out their team. They already had Ms. Grey, who had organized two successful charity fashion shows, onside. “I said I’ll join, but only if we win,” recalls Ms. Prange. “We didn’t realize how competitive we were until we started this competition.”

Trumped presented three separate challenges – the first, a fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society. Yours Truly organized a concert, two bar nights, and a cookbook signing (Martha Prange spent the summer honing her business savvy by republishing her grandmother’s muffin cookbook, Muffin Mania). They ended up raising more than $8,000 and placing first. “I don’t know how we won,” laughs Ms. Prange. “I think it was out of fear.”

Only half the teams proceeded to the second challenge, designing an advertising campaign for ice-cream seller Pinky’s. Yours Truly bagged this challenge, too. “Our angle for the Pinky’s ad was that you could be a complete slob while you were eating their products, as long as you kept your pinkies up,” explains Ms. Prange.

Pinky’s will be running the billboard and radio ads designed by the students this summer.

Eight teams proceeded to the third round, a challenge from Molson’s, which is sponsoring Halifax’s summer KISS concert. The challenge was to design the Molson’s VIP tent and do promotions for the concert. Yours Truly put together a promotional plan, from VIP cards to posters, and Ms. Grey even enlisted two models from her fashion shows to help with a photo shoot.

While Yours Truly came in third in the Molson’s challenge, they were the overall winners by a landslide. As well as winning, the students came away from Trumped with job skills, networking contacts and a ton of stellar references.

“We think it’ll open a lot of doors,” says Ms. Prange. That’s an understatement. Milk Marketing—Ms. Prange and Ms. Grey’s new business venture—doesn’t even have a website ready, and they’re already receiving work offers.

“I’ve never been invested in something the way I was in this competition,” she adds. “This is real-world success and accomplishments… a lot of things I learned in the classroom, I was able to apply.  Plus, we had a lot of fun. We did this with friends. It was work, but we had a really good time.”

They’re still riding high on their success, so what’s in the future for Yours Truly? For one thing, they’re going to spend the Travel CUTS money they won in the challenges. “I think we’re probably going to go to Florida,” says Ms. Prange.

Adds Ms. Grey: “To spend time on the beach and relax!”

“To write our business plan,” her friend corrects.