YouLaunch Engages Over 350 Youth During GEW

YouLaunch celebrated a successful Global Entrepreneurship Week hosting/partnering with local small businesses and organizations to offer 10 events across the city. We also celebrated the launch of Junior Achievement programming in Sault Ste. Marie where we successfully delivered 4 classes at local high schools.

Junior Achievement is the nation’s leading youth business education organization; the program helps students become financially literate, ready for the workplace, and helps them discover their inner entrepreneur.

White Pines held the city’s first Dollars with Sense Junior Achievement program, and followed it up with the city’s first Be Entrepreneurial program. Twenty students learned how to pay debts and began thinking about starting a business.

Korah Collegiate, also saw the start of the Junior Achievement delivery with four classes starting the Dollars with Sense programming. Five of the classes in the business department have started the journey to financial literacy. By the time Christmas break rolls around they will know how to afford all those Christmas presents.

In addition to launching Junior Achievement we held the following events:

Digital Marketing Workshop:

The Digital Marketing Workshop was targeted at students attending Algoma University and Sault College, while staying completely open for the public to attend. The workshop was free to attend and was held by digital marketing expert Tara Wilkins, of Camptech. Tara covered important topics such as creating a digital marketing strategy, creating a website strategy, amplifying your digital message, social media, and email marketing.

St. Mary’s College Digital Marketing Workshop:

St. Mary’s took advantage of Tara’s expertise and held a second Digital Marketing workshop for students on the Tuesday Morning. There Tara spoke about the importance of personal branding and how to use online tools to reach more people. Four classes were invited to attend hosting an amazing 115 students ranging from business to art students.

Generation Startup Film screening & Community Panel:

YouLaunch and StartUp Sault Ste. Marie partnered to deliver the community an exclusive look at the Generation Startup documentary, followed by a community entrepreneurial focused panel. The documentary followed six recent graduates and budding entrepreneurs as they embarked upon their startup journey in Detroit, Michigan. The movie provided a glimpse of what it is really like to build a company while also showing how a community can rebuild and reinvent itself. The movie was followed by a panel that consisted of community leaders and change makers, headlined by Mayor Provenzano. The other panel members were:

• Heather Lewis, Entrepreneurship Coordinator for the YouLaunch program of the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre

• Rory Ring, CEO of the Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce

• Andrew Ross, General Manager of Enterprise Services for the Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corporation

• Karen Senecal, Business Development & Investment Manager for the Community Development Corporation of Sault Ste. Marie & Area

The panel focused on answering questions around what individuals and groups can do to encourage entrepreneurship, bolster community morale, and help foster economic diversification.

More than 50 community members attended the screening and panel conversation.

Grub at the Hub- Veracity:

YouLaunch and the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre hosted ‘Grub at the Hub’, a lunch networking event aimed at bringing together local entrepreneurs and creating an atmosphere to learn from one another. This week’s Grub at the Hub featured Graham Nelson and Veracity Asset Management. Veracity Asset Management specializes in Critical Asset Management, specifically in power generation, transmission, and distribution. Veracity is a leader in helping utilities integrate a cradle to grave strategy for critical assets which encompasses data capture, emergency preparedness and planning, critical spares and disposition management.

Graham shared how Veracity came to be and many other stories he has collected along the way of his entrepreneurial journey.

Business Model Canvas Contest- Algoma University, Sault College, and Korah Collegiate:

Over Global Entrepreneurship Week, YouLaunch held a Business Model Canvas competition at the post-secondary and secondary level. Students at Algoma University, Sault College, and Korah Collegiate had an opportunity to show off their business ideas in this great competition. There was a single winner chosen from Algoma University and Sault College, with each winning $100 to the bookstore. Korah will have a winner announced for each grade (9-12) and the winner will have their choice of a $50 giftcard.

Algoma University Winner: Katelyn Porcheron

Sault College Winner: Caitlin Jacko

Korah Collegiate Winners:

Grade 9: Amanda Dupuis- FUTR Studios

Grade 10: Ethan Burns- Lawnmowing Services

Grade 11: Kurtis Humes- Ned's Bread

Grade 12: Michaela Martella- Superior Basket Co.

Throughout the week YouLaunch engaged over 350 youth.

Other events that took place throughout the week included:

-Moonlight Market hosted by the Mill Market

-Moonlight Magic hosted by Queenstown BIA

-Festival of Trees Take 5 hosted by Chamber of Commerce