John Thornton, Director of Students Into Free Enterprise (SIFE) Australia visited the Faculty of Business and Law at CQU Rockhampton on Friday 21 March.

Mr Thornton met with the newly appointed SIFE executive and their new members for 2003 for a lunchtime presentation and informal discussion session.

The visit gave members the opportunity to discuss SIFE's objectives and ideals for 2003 and new members the chance to raise questions about the organisation.

SIFE is a non-profit organisation that was established 25 years ago in the United States with the purpose to provide university students with the best opportunity to make a difference and to develop leadership, teamwork and communication skills through learning, practising and teaching the principles of free enterprise in the local community.

The CQU SIFE executive team for 2003, President, Andrew Maloney, Secretary, Lois Langley and Treasurer, Izzy Geritz are looking forward to working together with a much larger team in 2003.

This year, SIFE has attracted many new members to its organisation.

The team will be focusing on working together with community based projects and new business concepts.

The lunchtime session raised many areas of interest including resources, good and bad ethical practice, support networks, government grants, business sustainability, market models, market research, community support, and teaching self-efficiency to local small businesses.

The SIFE team have been invited by the Faculty to participate as mentors in the 2003 Business Week, an annual school based event that encourages local Year 12 students to become involved in all levels of business from marketing to accounting.

If you would like to involve SIFE in a community based project, please contact Beth Tennent, Mentor of the SIFE team on (0&) 4930 9333.