Medical bookseller now B.C. entrepreneur champ

Simon Fraser University’s Student Entrepreneur of the Year for 2010 is now B.C.’s entrepreneurial champion.

Jordan Gutierrez, owner and operator of librerialeo.com.mx, Latin America’s biggest online medical bookstore, has been named the 2011 Student Entrepreneur B.C. champion in a national competition organized by Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE) and CIBC.

Gutierrez, a fourth-year SFU economics student who is originally from Mexico, found a niche market in targeting rural Mexican doctors who have limited access to books available only in large centres.

The company’s website, started in 2008, has produced more than $1.2 million in sales. Plans are underway to expand sales in Latin America and to include online sales of medical equipment.

Gutierrez, who is currently in Mexico, now moves on to regional championships in Calgary on March 14. Winners carry on to the national exposition in Toronto on May 11.

He was chosen winner of SFU’s competition in November 2010.

ACE is a national, charitable organization that teaches young Canadians to create brighter futures for themselves and their communities. ACE also runs Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE), with a highly active chapter at SFU.