Beedie business student Matias Marquez, founder of a burgeoning electronic gift-card company, is SFU’s Student Entrepreneur of the Year.

Marquez took the honour at the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) annual competition Nov. 19.

His company Buyatab.com, Canada’s leading digital gift-card processor, is a “software-as-a-service” technology that is embedded into its customers’ websites.

Users of the service pick up the estimated “tab” for a meal from a participating merchant in the form of an electronic gift card that can be redeemed at face value, without restrictions or expiration dates.

Marquez says thousands of North American merchants have signed up with Buyatab, including restaurant chains such as The Keg, Boston Pizza, Milestones and Swiss Chalet.

“We’re where we are now because of our passion and hard work,” says Marquez, who juggles personal visits to customers and prospects and running his Vancouver office with completing his business degree.

This year’s second-place winner is Arvand Alviri, founder of VenueWize, a web and smartphone application that lets event organizers collaborate on events, access live guest information during events and track guest profitability.

Both winners are clients of Venture Connection, a training and support centre for SFU entrepreneurs that has helped numerous student and recent alumni companies through various stages and phases of business development.

Also in November, Profit magazine recognized former Venture Connection client Arash Afrooze, an SFU alumnus and co-founder of crowd-sourcing website HiretheWorld.com, as one of Canada’s top 20 young entrepreneurs.