Costa Zafiris (BComm’14) is a recent Dal graduate who has both the ideas and the energy to transform classroom principles into real-world outcomes. That’s not to say Zafiris ignored the classroom as a student: he was recently awarded the Dalhousie Commerce Alumni Association Award in Entrepreneurship for earning the highest academic standing in his entrepreneurship major.

Participating in Dal’s Starting Lean program helped Zafiris and his partner Callum Mayer (BComm’14) get one of their ideas off the ground: the pair have launched  PlayPeanut, which provides a platform for social interactions and gaming among sports fans. Zafiris and Mayer have also collaborated on a startup called Unify that aims to help student entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to their school’s alumni in search of investments.

Zafiris’ third active project is DateCaddie, an app created with his partner Chris Johnson to help users plan creative dates. If balancing three startups sounds like a lot to handle for a new alumnus, try adding a full-time job: Zafiris works as an education facilitator at the Centre for Entrepreneurship Education and Develpment and devotes himself to his entrepreneurial projects on evenings and weekends.

Congrats @CostaZafiris on this amazing award & make sure you watch @CTVAtlantic tonight 5:15PM to see @DateCaddie pic.twitter.com/BiaVh5mYMC

— Starting Lean (@dalstartinglean) July 27, 2015

Read more in “Up and coming entrepreneur gets academic award” on thechronicleherald.ca.