Successful entrepreneurs offered students insight and advice on starting a business at Entrepreneurship Day
Students listen to the speakers intently at the Entrepreneurship Day at George Brown College’s Career Centre on Nov. 18. Photo: Dora Liu/The Dialog
On Nov. 18, Entrepreneurship Day was held to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week. Held The event was co-hosted by the career centre at St. James campus, Enactus—George Brown College (GBC) and a new entrepreneurship support organization called startGBC.
“The idea without action is like a boat without rudder,” said John Polikar, GBC student and president of Enactus—GBC.
The new startGBC group provides online resources, which directs students to a wealth of learning and funding options. It offers aspiring entrepreneurs guidance from mentors and advice from professional service providers. It will also be launching the Why Not Me speaker series, featuring alumni entrepreneurs, and The Practical Entrepreneur workshop program in Jan. 2015.
Among student attendees were four special guests:
Dimitry Toukhcher, entrepreneur and founder of LGFG Fashion House;
Gavan Howe, a business school professor at GBC, who is also is a brand development expert with over 20 years of experiences leading his firm Howe Brand Communications and its digital division ebranders.com.;
Maddie Kessel, a GBC alumni who recently graduated from the small business entrepreneurship program who established her own businesses, “Her Boyfriend the Painter” and “Migdal Jewelry,” which sell her own refashioned heirlooms and up-cycled jewelry;
And Robert Croghenk, a seasoned entrepreneur whose experiences span the fashion industry both domestically and internationally.
At the start of the event, Howe asked, “What are you going to do as an entrepreneur?”
“Change!” he answered.
Howe pointed out that in 1991, there was only one website, in 1995 there were 25,000, and today there are 1.2 billion.
“So, change, you’re going to embrace it, you prepare for it, recognize it and you’re going to change,” said Howe. “The environment is not waiting.”
Toukhcher added that we should be “emotional,” and “don’t take extra strategy, don’t be afraid to fail, don’t spend too much time on your plan. It’s just like you proposing to your girlfriend, you would not have too many plans. It’s like you burn your ship, you have no where to go, so you have to grow up.”
Kessel had a similar suggestion saying, “you should live what you love, and find out what you can do (in it).”
No matter their philosophies, all of them agreed that only taking action can help us learn.
“You can take many classes, listen to many lectures but you cannot learn leadership,” said Toukhcher. “Leadership only can be learned by work.”
They all agreed that these days we have a lot of resources, programs, social media and networking tools to help students achieve their entrepreneurial goals.
For more information students can visit www.georgebrown.ca/research/start or contact Amy Matchen at 647-924-3036 or amy.matchen@georgebrown.ca.
