WINNIPEG — Relationships and helping others are important for success, students who came to the Fairmont Hotel for the inaugural event of the Winnipeg chapter of the Jewish Business Network (JBN) were told on Oct. 20.

Seen from left are Winnipeg Jewish Business Network members,
students Seth Morris, Maxim berent, Matan Hazanov,  Ashley Faintuch,
Maria Konikov. [Rhonda Spivak photo]

WINNIPEG — Relationships and helping others are important for
success, students who came to the Fairmont Hotel for the inaugural event
of the Winnipeg chapter of the Jewish Business Network (JBN) were told
on Oct. 20.

JBN national director Matan Hazanov, Hazanov noted in his talk to some 30 students in attendance that the Jewish notion of success is “much deeper than the amount of money in your bank account… It’s about your relationships, your values, what you’re involved in [communally] and your legacy.”

The network hopes to “inspire students to want to have a positive impact in the world through Jewish or social activism.”

In an interview, he spoke about the group. “Our target demographic is Jewish business students, so our speakers… and themes are all focused to attract them, but we have had various other students attending JBN programs,” he said.

JBN Winnipeg president Maria Konikov told The CJN, “This is a great opportunity to get more involved in Jewish life… I am really looking forward to my involvement with the JBN. This is a great opportunity for networking and meeting other Jewish students.”

 Konikov, a third-year student at the Asper School of Business at the University of Manitoba, is completing a double major in international business and marketing. She was born in Belarus, grew up in Israel and immigrated to Winnipeg when she was in Grade 7. Many of the other students who attended the inaugural event were also recent Russian-Israeli immigrants.

 “Maxim Berent, who is the president of Hillel, is the one who first told me about this and got me involved,” said Konikov, who knew Berent from high school.

 While a number of the students involved are in business and marketing programs, others are studying in such areas as psychology and arts.

 “The JBN is open to any Jewish student [post-high school] of any age who is studying any subject, not just business or marketing,” said Berent, who is in architecture at the University of Manitoba, and is the JBN’s vice-president of marketing.

University of Winnipeg marketing student Ashley Faintuch is the local chapter’s adviser, and Seth Morris, who studies finance there, is vice-president of  finance of operations.

Berent said he was pleased “with the atmosphere of the inaugural event,” which included refreshments and a sweet table. “People are having a good time, and that’s important, especially for a first event.”

“We received a lot of positive feedback from the students,” Konikov told The CJN later. “Also many students were unable to attend the first event due to midterms but have expressed tremendous interest [in] our future events.”

The keynote address was given by Dr Henri Rothschild, president of  the Canada-Israel Industrial Research & Development Foundation. He spoke of Israel’s prominent role in innovation and noted that in June 2010, Israel was chosen to head the EUREKA organization, the largest research and development network in the world.

“EUREKA is a like a mini-United Nations of industrial innovation,” Rothschild said, “and when Israel was chosen to assume the presidency this year, there was no controversy, no walk-outs and no boycotts.”