Hard work pays off for Saint Mary's Sobey Award Winner

Michael Brown 2012 Frank H. Sobey Award Winner standing in front of Sobey School of Business

Third year Saint Mary’s University commerce student Michael Brown, is reaping the benefits of his diligence as one of this year’s recipients of a $15,000 Frank H. Sobey Award for Excellence in Business.

“I have spent countless hours on campus studying and working,” said Brown. “This did not come easy and therefore it is kind of surreal.”Brown, a double major in Finance and Entrepreneurship at the Sobey School of Business said he immediately understood that “it is an honour to be recognized by the Frank H. Sobey fund and to join the ranks of the past recipients.”

No stranger to hard work, Brown is already an entrepreneur operating a rain gutter cleaning business along with fellow student Mark Mayhew.  The business began as a $10 project idea in Dr. Ellen Farrell’s class – Structuring the Start-Up.  Brown and Mayhew improved on their initial idea and are currently in the process of registering the business and finalizing the details with the manufacture for exclusive rights within Atlantic Canada.

With the Sobey Award win, Brown envisions new business prospects coming to fruition that were once dormant because of the lack of funds. “Studying abroad and travelling through seven countries in Europe last summer provided me an opportunity to generate many business ideas and concepts,” he said. “Receiving this award will allow me to further develop and see some of these ideas become a reality”.

Brown has a bent for paying it forward.  Presently, he is a research associate for the energy sector in the IMPACT program at Saint Mary’s and spends most of his free time volunteering at the YMCA Abilities in Motion.

The Parrsboro native sees a career for himself unfolding in finance, but it will be one where he can have a positive influence on the community. He believes Nova Scotia is just the place where this can all be realized.

”I want to give back to the community and I believe the best way to do so is by pushing my limits as an entrepreneur,” he said. “I believe Nova Scotia is a great place to be an entrepreneur.”  

About the Frank H. Sobey Awards for Excellence in Business Studies

The Frank H. Sobey Awards for Excellence in Business Studies currently presents six awards of $15,000 each. All full-time business students attending Atlantic universities are eligible for consideration. Deans of Business at each university nominate candidates based on academic standing, entrepreneurial interest, extracurricular and community activities, employment history and career aspirations. 

Established in 1989, the Frank H. Sobey Awards for Excellence in Business Studies have awarded more than $921,800 to business students in the four Atlantic Provinces. Each university in the region offering a business program has had at least one recipient of a Frank H. Sobey Award.

This page last modified Monday, 23-Jan-2012 13:16:17 AST