A Look at Global Entrepreneurship Week 2018

For the past 10 years Futurpreneur Canada has had the honour of hosting Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) in Canada. GEW is the world’s largest celebration of entrepreneurship. During one week each November, thousands of activities take place cross 170 countries, inspiring millions to engage in entrepreneurial activity while connecting them to potential collaborators, mentors and even investors.

As the national host, we continuously find ways to celebrate, showcase and inspire entrepreneurs across the country.

This year we asked Canada to celebrate and show their support for entrepreneurs across the country by hosting an event as part of the GEW Canada Community Challenge for a chance to be named the The Most Entrepreneurial City. After 169 events held across Canada throughout November, based on the number of GEW-related events hosted per capita, we’re excited to announce that the city awarded the title of The Most Entrepreneurial City and bragging rights for 2018 is…Whitby, ON! Congratulations and a huge thank you to the community of Whitby for showcasing their support for entrepreneurs and small business in Canada.

An honourable mention goes out to Montreal, QC for hosting the most events in one city this year, with a total of 44.

Read on to see how else we celebrated GEW this year!

Trailblazers 2018

On Thursday, Novembecr 15, Trailblazers 2018 was hosted in Vancouver, BC and featured five incredible local female entrepreneurs. One by one, the trailblazers took the stage to share their experiences of launching their own businesses, facing unique challenges along the way, and finding support within their local communities.

Read more about this year’s inspiring speakers here, and get a firsthand account from a Futurpreneur team member here!

‘Pitch Perfect’ Workshop and Pitch Competition

On Wednesday, November 14, a pitch workshop and competition was held in Toronto, ON to help entrepreneurs learn how to formulate a business pitch and tell their unique stories effectively. As we know, talking about your business idea in 2-3 minutes in a way that tells your story and shows your value is a skill that all aspiring entrepreneurs need to develop, regardless of where they are in their journey.

After round 1 of peer-to-peer pitching and voting, followed by live pitches to a panel of judges, two winners were selected and each won $1,000 to put towards their businesses. Congratulations to Adam Simmons of Spark Music and Naomi Blackman & Mikalya Wujec of soon-to-be launched ALDER Apparel!

Raising the GEW Flag at Parliament Hill

To mark the launch of GEW 2018 in Canada, The Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion, joined Futurpreneur and a variety of Futurpreneur-supported entrepreneurs on Thursday, November 8 in a flag raising ceremony on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

“As a small-business-friendly government, we are committed to helping more Canadians—including youth, women and other under-represented groups—start up, scale up and grow their businesses,” said Minister Ng.

“Futurpreneur is a key part of that, helping entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 39 transform their ideas into businesses. Global Entrepreneurship Week, with its message of inclusivity, represents a great opportunity to celebrate the many success stories of Canada’s promising entrepreneurs.”

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (“GEM”) Report on Youth Entrepreneurship

A new report on youth entrepreneurship in Canada has revealed an interesting trend in the young entrepreneurial ecosystem (ages 18-39).

The report, sponsored by Futurpreneur, THECIS and the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE), captures a variety of key insights and learnings into the young entrepreneurial ecosystem, including but not limited to: consumer services, provincial hub findings and in-depth analysis into the gender gap.

On Tuesday, November 13^th, a webinar was hosted to provide a detailed overview of the content with the report author Amanda Williams, and Peter Josty, the leader of the GEM Canada team.  To read the report, click here.