Published on February 13, 2015 | by Daniela Napoli Photography by Diana Gareth & Courtesy of Brianna Morrison
0From classmate to chairman, chairwoman
In less than two months, students in their final year of the Bachelors of Business Administration program will be walking out our campus’ doors for the last time.
The University of Guelph-Humber’s Alumni Advancement Coordinator, Laurie de Fleuriot de la Colinière, said she can’t describe all students the same but she does see one major common characteristic.
“Students who leave the school all definitely possess the ability and, want, to work hard and persevere,” said de Fleuriot who is a BBA grad herself.
Rewind back five years ago, Justin Ramlochan would be in the same home-stretch that some fourth year students are in now.
As the current President and CFO of International Telephone Products Limited, Ramlochan is one of those Guelph-Humber go-getters.
But before becoming the chief financial officer of his own company, Ramlochan said he was well-experienced in entry-level jobs.
“Whether it was in pay-roll or collections… I was always working for my dad’s company when I was a kid,” said Ramlochan.
The firm was established in 1977 and now provides telecommunication solutions to commercial customers who are looking replace their old systems or keep up to date with new telephone and data technology.
The entrepreneur and mixed martial artist said he learned how to deal with the stresses of running a business through exercise and personal discipline. But his biggest test came during his final year at Guelph-Humber.
In 2009, Jerry Ramlochan, Justin’s father and founder of International Telephone Products Limited died.
After the ownership of the company was given to the Guelph-Humber student, he said he was thrown into the deep end, “I had to steer the ship… I had to plug some holes and make sure it wasn’t going to sink.”
“I really believe education is vital,” Ramlochan, who specialized in marketing, said. But it was his time outside of the classroom where he said got the most value out of his education.
“A lot of what you learn in school isn’t instantly translatable in the business world. Textbooks, memorization and those things, they’re not going to get you far. It’s how you learn to learn, and how you adopt concepts and your abilities that really becomes useful when you want to run a company,” Ramlochan said.
The university and its course work had a different impact on a fellow alumni and entrepreneur, Brianna Morrison.
She graduated one year before Ramlochan and is now a co-owner and certified event planner of an event planning company that she and a classmate started on their own.
She said it was her hybrid education from Guelph-Humber that ended up being very influential to the full-service event provider. By working on a very hands-on business plan, Morrison said she had a template for the years to follow.
“That course let me know exactly what I needed to do… and I feel like if I had gone to any other institution or university, I wouldn’t have had that hands on training,” said Morrison.
“A lot of our professors were always talking about trying to come up with the next best thing. That has definitely come true in my business… you need to make yourself stand out and you need to be offering something different and unique,” she said.
She said she’s grateful for the type of “forward thinking” that was passed on from her professors who were veterans in the industry.
Morrison has recently been faced with a roadblock in her company. A portion of her sales goes towards planning smaller scale social gatherings like birthdays and bridal showers.
She said it was her constant reminder to work towards innovation that got her over her business’ hurdle. The company recently launched a “Pinterest worthy” party in a box to get the most out of the occasions where event planners are no longer in demand.
“We analyzed our different markets, saw what the weaknesses were, and created a need for them to want our business,” said Morrison.
Despite the different stances on the benefit of classwork, both alumni and entrepreneurs said that the business world could be rigorous.
“You are constantly working on your business and you can get to this point where you say, ‘Why am I doing this? This isn’t working.’ And you can get really depressed,” Morrison said.
“If the company isn’t making money, it’s out of my pocket… being a business owner isn’t for everyone. You can’t wing the real world. It doesn’t work like that,” said Ramlochan.
About the Author
Daniela Napoli 's work will change the future (at least hopefully!) When she's not busy making great big goals, Daniela likes listening to awesome guitar solos & increasing her Sneak to 84.
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