Jeff Ryzner of Winnipeg, Manitoba, the 2015 winner of the BDC Mentorship Award.

What is the award?

The BDC Mentorship Award Presented by Futurpreneur Canada will honour a Canadian business mentor credited by their mentees and peers for having provided valuable advice and support. Through a significant commitment of time and effort, the BDC Mentorship Award winner will have contributed to the creation and growth of Canadian companies by building their mentees’ professional skills and abilities.

Read the press release announcing the winner

Watch our video to find out more and meet our 2015 winner Jeff Ryzner of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

How is the winner chosen?

To win, mentors must be nominated or can nominate themselves. It’s the first step in a five-step process to select the winning mentor, to be announced at Futurpreneur Canada’s Action Entrepreneurship: Growing Young Enterprise Canadian Summit in Toronto in May 2016.

  • 1
    Submit nomination
  • 2
    Collect endorsements from mentees and submit supporting documents
  • 3
    Regional Selection Committees review applications
  • 4
    National Selection Committee reviews finalist applications
  • 5
    Winner announced in May 2016

The 2016 BDC Mentorship Award application period is now open! If you wish to nominate yourself or someone else, please use this form to start the process. To all applicants, good luck and thank you for your continued commitment to mentoring entrepreneurs in Canada.

Additional details will be made available at bdc.ca/awards. Look for regular announcements on Twitter @BDC_News and @Futurpreneur and follow #Mentor2016.

What is the prize?

  • An invitation to the Action Entrepreneurship: Growing Young Enterprise Canadian Summit in Toronto in May 2016, with travel and accommodation included, and the option of delivering an acceptance speech in front of hundreds of entrepreneurs and business, policy, education, non-profit and other leaders aiming to expand youth entrepreneurship in Canada;
  • Prominence in a national press release and through social media, including background information about the winner’s accomplishments and national recognition;
  • Offers to participate in BDC and/or Futurpreneur Canada events during 2016; and
  • A trophy, recognizing the winner as the Recipient of the 2016 BDC Mentorship Award Presented by Futurpreneur Canada.

This award recognizes the profound impact mentors make to our country’s economic prosperity and global competitiveness by supporting the capacity of entrepreneurs to innovate, take risks and grow their businesses.

Meet the 2015 finalists!

Greg Sutton Jeff Ryzner Bryan Watson Serge Dion Ellen Farrel Tom Cooper