Beedie School of Business to host Startup Canada entrepreneurship dialogue

The Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University will next week play host to Startup Canada Vancouver Town Hall, an open dialogue and networking session for Vancouver’s entrepreneurship sector.

The event will be held at SFU’s Segal Graduate School of Business in downtown Vancouver on September 18, and is the result of a partnership between SFU, BCIT, Discovery Foundation, Emily Carr University of Art + Design and UBC. It will bring together Vancouver’s entrepreneurs, students, universities, incubators, accelerators and other stakeholders to brainstorm and discuss pathways to success for entrepreneurs and startups in Vancouver.

In addition to networking opportunities, the event will feature welcome messages from Daniel Shapiro, Dean of the Beedie School of Business, John Jacobson, President and CEO, British Columbia Innovation Council, and Rick Spence, writer and consultant on business growth and entrepreneurship.

A panel discussion will be held on the role BC universities, incubators and accelerators play in supporting startups in Vancouver, followed by a brainstorming session on how the Vancouver entrepreneurial community can look to better support entrepreneurs and startups.

Keynote speakers at the event will include Karn Manhas, founder, President and CEO of Terramera Biosciences, and John Seminerio, Partner of Magellan Angel Partners, a venture development company which provides angel capital and mentorship to BC information technology companies.

Startup Canada is the nation’s first entrepreneur-led, national movement aimed at enhancing the nation’s competitiveness and prosperity by supporting Canadian entrepreneurship and promoting a vibrant entrepreneurial community across Canada.

The Beedie School of Business has a long-standing history of supporting entrepreneurship among its students. This year saw the launch of two programs designed to promote entrepreneurship: the Ken Spencer Entrepreneur Incubator and the Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator.

The Ken Spencer Entrepreneur Incubator is a component of the entrepreneurship@SFU initiative in partnership with BCIC. It acts as a pathway for third-and fourth-year business and applied sciences students to provide the skills, mentorship and resources to build upon innovative ideas and develop new ventures.

The Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator helps entrepreneurially-minded students develop feasible business models and provides them with the resources to move their concepts towards reality and develop projects that will help address society’s social, environmental and economic challenges.

In addition, SFU Venture Connection offers support for student ventures from initial idea to business validation by providing office space, mentorship, co-op terms and networking opportunities, with the aim of inspiring students and creating an entrepreneurial culture throughout the entire university.

For more information, and to register for Startup Canada Vancouver Town Hall, visit https://beediecommunity.sfu.ca/public/Startup-Canada.htm