George Brown business graduate is the only college student to receive a 2015 International Student Excellence Award by the City of Toronto for entrepreneurship
Jerry Gou | Photo: Renuka Malhotra
Jerry Gou, a recent business graduate of George Brown College (GBC), has won the International Student Excellence Award for entrepreneurship by the City of Toronto on Oct. 17.
Gou has been an active participant at the college. He is the international student representative at the Student Association, which funds (The Dialog), he is a marketing lead at Peerconnect and the co-founder of the GBevent app. He is also the vice president of marketing for Reach Mobile Technologies, the Toronto company he worked for while studying at George Brown.
When asked about what keeps him going, Gou said, “you cannot stop.” Talking about his experience as an international student, Gou said you have to strive harder, fight harder and work harder than others, “and I work very hard.”
He said the college supported him in every hour of need. “Peerconnect is really close to my heart, this place has really helped me to groom my skills. Some days even when I was down or depressed, the Peerconnect team helped me cheer up.”
“Jerry was one of the first student entrepreneurs to approach startGBC, your gateway to entrepreneurship at GBC.” said Amy Matchen, Gou’s business mentor and startGBC manager. “He is remarkable for his marketing ability and his drive and capacity for hard work. But his most noticeable feature is his natural way of connecting with others.”
Gou’s most recent venture was an application for tracking events at GBC. Gou is currently working to make this app recognized as the official event application for the college.
“It is more important for me than the award.” said Gou. “The award is really fabulous but to be able to do something, create something worth, that feeling is better.”
Gou’s efforts and entrepreneurship skills in developing a mobile job search application also earned him GBC’s Outstanding Student Entrepreneur Award in 2015.
