Tasneem Zreg, BCom/24
Tasneem Zreg is graduate of the Bachelor of Commerce program, Honours, with Distinction, and one year in advance! She has been awarded the Provost Scholar Award for exceptional undergraduate achievement, a Faculty Scholarship, 2023-24 Dean’s Honour List recipient, and was the only undergraduate Honourable Mention for the university-wide Outstanding TA Award.
She served as a Senior Partner with the Sprott Student Consulting Group (SSCG) where she was the Project Lead for Sprott Shares and held a number of different roles. She is the founder and president of CU in the Community, an organization which has partnered with prominent organizations to provide group volunteering opportunities for students.
Outside of Sprott, Tasneem has been an active member of the Ottawa Board of Trade, the Organization of Women in International Trade, and the Scotiabank Women’s Initiative.
What is your most memorable experience at Sprott?
My most memorable experience at Sprott was my job as Program Coordinator/ Facilitator of the Changemaker business incubator program the Innovation Hub. The program is a wonderful opportunity for student entrepreneurs to build one or more new business ventures with the greater goal of making a positive impact. Throughout the program, students have the opportunity to develop their professional skills, and learn about their own strengths and weakness, while oftentimes preparing to pitch their first business idea. It is so exciting to be a part of this journey alongside them, and to witness them building their dream ventures, while also seeking to grow into their best self along the way.
From participating in the program myself, to then leading it as its coordinator, I had the first-hand experience of benefiting from its transformational impact, and then sharing this experience with other students with a similar drive for change. My experience of pitching to a room of judges, investors, and leaders was incredibly empowering. Later being hired to lead the program, and share my passion for business and innovation through working with entrepreneurs in building their businesses for the past year was ultimately transformation, and is an experience I will cherish forever.
If you had to choose one word to describe the Sprott community, what would be?
My one word would absolutely be ‘compassion.’ The Sprott community embodies a forward-thinking, future-oriented approach to business, that focuses on the power of growing together. It is not only a business school, but it is a compassionate community where collective success is celebrated.
Sprott wants to see you shine, and is always supportive of your well-being as a student. From our leadership team to our outstanding faculty and staff, to our wonderful Career Centre , alumni network, and our undergraduate and graduate student body, everyone at Sprott plays a part in contributing to a welcoming and compassionate environment. It is a wholesome community to be a part of.
What was your favourite course or professor? Why?
My two favourite courses were BUSI3105 (Managing and Motivating Teams) with Professor Chelsie Smith, and BUSI2504 (Business Finance) with Professor Shi Li. Professor Smith is a truly outstanding PhD student at Sprott and is an all-the-more exceptional professor. She cares about her students and provides real-world managerial scenarios in her teaching and engaging experiential learning exercises during every lecture. She is truly exceptional, and I loved being in two of her classes. Professor Shi Li is furthermore wonderful. The course he teaches is definitely challenging, yet his teaching excellence makes the course fun, and is an easy favourite for many Sprotties.
What is the most valuable lesson you learned during your time at Sprott?
The most valuable lesson that I learned during my time at Sprott is the importance of being proactive in the pursuit of personal excellence and achieving one’s potential. I learned that it is imperative you find the courage to step past self-declared boundaries, invest time and energy into continuous professional and personal development, often challenge yourself and explore new experiences, always be creative, and take initiative in bringing your ideas and aspirations to life!
What was it like being apart of the Sprott Student Consulting Group?
I was accepted into the Sprott Student Consulting Group (SSCG) for a summer cooperative learning experience as as an entry-level Project Analyst. Since then, I have I worked a series of roles within SSCG, including most recently, Team Lead, Director of Corporate Affairs, and Senior Partner. Throughout my tenure, I have not only grown as a leader, but have I been able to grow familiar with leadership dynamics, in both formal and informal roles. My experiences also enabled me appreciate the priceless value of learning as a leader, and has instilled in me a lifelong drive for remaining curious and proactive across all endeavours.
As Project Manager and Team Lead of Sprott Shares, I led two separate teams of MBA, MEng, and Undergraduate interns for the Sprott Shares program, which was founded by the wonderful Dr. Leighann Neilson, Academic Director of PhD, and MSc students at the Sprott School of Business. The first work semester of the project was focused on supporting the launch of the program. My team and I also worked on marketing the program externally across industry stakeholders, internally within the university, and digitally across social media, in anticipation for the first Sprott Shares event in August. We had also focused part of my work on building the Sprott Shares brand, including the logo, slogan, posters, and digital presence. The launch was a major success, and it was inspiring seeing the Sprott community working together for a common cause to support our student body.
A few months later, I then led the Sprott Shares project for another semester with a new mandate, and within this one, had led a team of 8 MBA, MEng, and Business Analytics interns toward building the 5-year strategic plan, with an innovative action plan to establish a full-time Sprott Shares store at the university by 2029. Working with Dr. Leighann Neilson over the past year on this project was a beautiful experience. Our client meetings were full of ideas and excitement, and her brilliance and passion has inspired me daily within our time working together over the pas year.
Tell us about your experiences as a Teaching Assistant
Throughout my time as a student, I worked as a TA for first, second, and third-year courses at Sprott. Last fall, I was honoured to be selected as the Head TA of Introduction to Business (BUSI1800), where I led a team of 19 TAs supporting the delivery of the largest course at Sprott. Working with students and leading a team at this scale was incredibly energizing. From hosting team meetings and office hours, to teaching my weekly tutorial classroom, to grading papers and offering feedback, to answering questions and curiosities, the process of supporting students as they navigate new concepts was ultimately rewarding, and a true highlight of my academic career.
Tell us about CU in the Community
I founded CU in the Community in early 2023, with the mission of offering group volunteering opportunities for Carleton students to get involved, and to give back to the community. I have always had a passion for volunteering, yet this was for a time halted during the pandemic. In 2023, upon rediscovering how rewarding and joyous it is to volunteer, I knew I wanted to share the experience with other students, and there, CUITC was sparked as an idea in my mind. I spent the summer building the organization from the ground up (while simultaneously working on leading a team to launch Sprott Shares), building our operations and our brand, as well as designing and launching a series of marketing campaigns, and later hiring my wonderful team of six Executives Vice Presidents.
When we launched in the fall, CUITC grew impressively to a community of hundreds students all employed with a similar passion for volunteerism and social impact.
Since launch, we worked growing establishing our volunteer and partner pipelines, and have established partnerships with a series of organizations in the community, supporting them in hours of service to support their events and operations. Some of our success stories include helping at the Sadaqah food bank, supporting a girls’ marathon with Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, and painting a building downtown with Ottawa Community Housing. All in all, I am proud of this wonderful experience, and am thrilled to leave behind a part of me and my passion for community engagement at Carleton.