By Sally Ng, Tech South East 

 

Being part of the Startup Canada National Tour, we wanted to expose students to the different types of entrepreneurs and help them realize it is a career choice. The students took part in a bilingual panel discussion with 4 entrepreneurs:

 

• Mario Allain – FundyPros (FR)
• Frederic LaForge – Smithy Creative Group (FR)
• Michelle Cirullo – Pink Fitness (FR/EN)
• Matt Eldridge – Foursum Golf (EN)

 

Following the panel, the students participated in small breakout rooms discussing different aspects of entrepreneurship. Within 24hrs of a couple students had already personally contacted the entrepreneurs that were at the event to be their mentors.

 

Students appreciated the opportunity to speak with the entrepreneurs in person, meeting the real person behind the business. Several students talked about the passion that entrepreneurs had for the business which makes it less of a job.

 

The entrepreneurs talked about ownership for someone being in their role. They have no one to blame if something goes wrong, but when everything falls into place the satisfaction of seeing exactly what they created is great!

 

Students said that if they wanted to start a business, they wouldn’t know where to start. They wanted to see more entrepreneurship classes in school and more variety in them. It would also motivate them more if they knew more about entrepreneurs in the community and saw entrepreneurship more prominently profiled in the media.  They enjoyed the opportunities meet the real entrepreneurs in their community.

 

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