BNP Paribas brings latest technology to Concordia business students

The John Dobson – Formula Growth Investment Room at Concordia’s John Molson School of Business will have a fresh, new look as of fall 2021.

Thanks to a recent gift-in-kind from BNP Paribas — one of the world’s largest banks, with more than 1,100 employees in Montreal — to the Campaign for Concordia: Next Gen. Now, students will benefit from 70 new computer monitors when they return to campus.

“The ties between BNP Paribas and Concordia run deep, and this donation solidifies them further,” says Cécile Grimault, chief operating officer of BNP Paribas in Canada.

The John Dobson – Formula Growth Investment Room was founded in 2000 to give students access to industry tools and live financial software. The room has 30 computers, each with two monitors. With BNP Paribas’s support, each computer will get a complete refresh of monitors, with an additional 10 monitors for contingency.

Experiential learning

The room is a small, yet important, section of the John Molson Building on Concordia’s downtown campus. It’s an area where students — outside of pandemic restrictions — can apply what they learn in their classes, from creating their own models to running their own portfolios or finishing assignments.

“We are very grateful to BNP Paribas for this donation,” says Anne-Marie Croteau, dean of the John Molson School of Business. “While students are not currently on campus, frequent users of the John Dobson – Formula Growth Investment Room are sure to appreciate the new computers when they return.”

‘Young people are the leaders of tomorrow’

The gift comes with excellent timing. Computer monitors are typically good for 30,000 to 60,000 hours — or 10 to 20 years. The investment room’s computer monitors have not been updated since their activation at the turn of the millennium, meaning they were already living on borrowed time.

In 2019, BNP Paribas also started offering its annual $3,000 BNP Paribas Scholarship Program for eligible business students at John Molson. In a fun twist, in order to qualify for the scholarship, students must first successfully complete an immersive, 3D escape room.

“Young people are the leaders of tomorrow,” Grimault says. “It is therefore essential that we take steps to support their education and give them every chance to succeed.”