Canadian Mentors Take Centre Stage During Global Entrepreneurship Week

Startup Canada and the Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF) are pleased to unveil Canada’s Top 10 Mentor Rock Stars for 2013.  These individuals were nominated for their contributions of volunteer work and leadership development in their communities and selected from an impressive group from across the country.

The Top 10 Mentor Rock Stars and hundreds of community partners are putting business mentors and enterprise mentorship in a national spotlight through the Canadian Mentorship Challenge during Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) November 18 – 24.

“Mentors help spark new ideas, offer different perspectives and lend meaningful first-hand advice to other entrepreneurs,” said Victoria Lennox, Co-Founder and CEO of Startup Canada. “The Mentor Rock Stars were nominated and recognized by their communities for their contributions to entrepreneurship. By arming entrepreneurs with valuable insights and knowledge, these individuals are paving the way to success for entrepreneurs while building the next generation of mentors in Canada.”

“At CYBF, we have long recognized the vital importance of mentoring to the success of entrepreneurial ventures,” said Linda Morana, Mentor in Residence, CYBF. “We applaud these ten individuals on their commitment to ensuring the success of the next generation of entrepreneurs, and taking the time to build a stronger entrepreneurial culture across Canada.”

These community leaders are passionate about helping others to succeed; building confidence in their mentees by giving their time to help develop their skills. They are active in building the social and economic fabric of their community and inspire others to do the same. Full profiles of these individuals will be appearing online throughout GEW.

The top ten Mentor Rock Stars are:

• George Bassett, PEI
• Pieter Boekhoff, Calgary, AB
• Rivers Corbett, NB
• Davendar Gupta, Quebec, QC
• Kevin Junek, SK
• Alexei Marko, Richmond, BC
• Paula Morand, London, ON
• Loudon Owen, Toronto, ON
• John Wray , Toronto, ON
• Robert Zed, Halifax, NS

These individuals will have the opportunity to share their advice on a national platform – reaching an audience of Canadian entrepreneurs. In addition, one lucky Mentor Rock Star will join the winning organization of the Canadian Mentorship Challenge for a special mentoring workshop delivered by CYBF’s Mentor in Residence, Linda Morana.

Across Canada, organizations participating in the Canadian Mentorship Challenge will host events to collectively mentor 10,000 enterprising Canadians. A full events listing can be found online.

For more information about events happening during GEW, please visit www.gewcanada.com.  You can also follow the Challenge by following #mentorscan, @startupcan and @gewcanada on Twitter.