Albert Lai, the founder of the photo sharing site BubbleShare, speaks in this week’s I Am My Ambition video.  Albert Lai has worked in multiple startups, and is currently developing his fifth project, Kontagent, which is a social analytics platform for Facebook.

In this week’s video, Albert emphasizes the importance of utilizing the vast resources that are available on the Internet.  He also talks about his experiences from balancing school with work in his startup.  Check out the video on the I Am My Ambition website, and stay tuned for next week’s video!

Interested in getting your hands on an Apple iPad and some one on one mentorship with some top Canadian executives? Look no further than the new ‘What Makes a Top Employer’ national student video contest. Hosted by KPMG, this contest aims to to find Canada’s Top Employers for Young People (TEFYP) for 2010.

Are you enrolled in a full or part-time college or university program? Then we want to hear your thoughts on what makes a Top Employer! Simply upload a one- to four -minute video on to the ‘What Makes a Top Employer’ website, at http://whatmakesatopemployer.ca/. If your video response is judged to be the most insightful, thoughtful, and useful, you can expect to see the above prizes. First place will receive an Apple iPad plus the opportunity to meet with the five top executives for an hour of one-on-one mentoring each. Second prize, an Apple iPad, will go to the student whose video wins by popular vote.

Bill Thomas, CEO of KPMG in Canada, has expressed his support for the initiative in saying, “This contest is a fun and insightful way for the award winning companies to learn from talented future employees about what they look for in a Top Employer, as well as to afford students with a great opportunity to showcase their creativity. This sponsorship demonstrates KPMG’s commitment to improving the workplace in Canada for the next generation.”

The contest only runs until October 18th, so you better get started on your video! For more information, check out http://whatmakesatopemployer.ca/

This week’s I Am My Ambition video release features Rahul Singh, the founder of GlobalMedic, a volunteer organization that provides medical and humanitarian aid to areas affected by natural disasters.

For GlobalMedic’s contributions to rebuild Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, Singh was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2010.  The article can be read here.  Rahul Singh will also be speaking at the 2010 Impact Apprentice competition.

In this video, Rahul discusses how he found his passion in humanitarian work and how he succeeded despite all odds.  His message:  find your cause, and don’t take no for an answer.

“Your ability to figure out what it is that drives you and then transfer that into something that you can have an impact on in the world around you becomes the most important thing.”

-Justin Trudeau, MP, Past Impact Gala Keynote

To kick off the exciting progress of the I Am My Ambition video campaign, IAMA will be connecting over 100 youth leaders, media personalities, industry professionals, and world class entrepreneurs, with a launch event hosted by the Centre for Social Innovation. The event, which aims to help people transform their passion into an impact on the world, will be taking place on August 16th, from 7:00PM to 9:30PM.

This invitation-only event features keynote speeches by Mark Evans, social media guru, and Jeff Adams, Paralympian and entrepreneur. Jeff Adams (who was filmed for the IAMA campaign) previously spoke at the 2009 Impact National Conference where he entertained audience members young and old with his inspirational story and great insight into the world of entrepreneurship. Attendees will enjoy the comfortable atmosphere of the Centre for Social Innovation while eating delicious hors d’oeuvres graciously provided by Vert Catering.

Interested in attending? Please contact sonya.jain (at) impact.org.

I Am My Ambition’s new video release features Canadian Member of Parliament Justin Trudeau!

Even before entering politics, Justin Trudeau was a strong advocate for youth engagement.  He has chaired the board of directors for the youth volunteer-service program Katimavik, and is currently Critic for Multiculturalism and Youth in the Liberal Party of Canada.

In our newest video, Justin Trudeau discusses the importance of defining your own path to success.  Watch it at the I Am My Ambition website or on Youtube and be sure to tell us what you think!

It is my great pleasure to welcome you all to the Shad Valley Impact Internship Blogging project. As a 2009 Shad Valley Laval Alum, and last year’s Shad Intern, this is a project that is close to my heart. I am greatly honoured to be the Shad Valley Internship Program Director this year for Impact. Shad was definitely the best experience of my life, and I am very thankful for the internship that got me involved in Impact.

Check out their blog posts: http://shadintern.tumblr.com/

Shad Valley is an award-winning summer enrichment program for the top high school students in the country to experience 4 weeks of business, entrepreneurship, science, engineering, and leadership. In this month long program, the students are placed at one of ten universities campuses across Canada, where they experience real university life, participate in lectures, seminars, design competitions, and much more. Shad is a truly life changing experience as all the students make life-long friendships, and discover themselves in ways they never thought possible. Personally, Shad has allowed me to discover my talents, pushed me beyond my limits, and definitely made me step outside my comfort zone. I thank Shad for all the opportunities it provided me with, especially getting involved in Impact.

Impact is proud of our partnership with Shad Valley. Our Founder, Kunal Gupta, was a Shad and has since been named Shad Alumnus of the year for his work with Impact. We have dozens of Shad Valley alumni as current and past Impact members. Most importantly, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Canada’s top high school students as part of the Shad Valley Internship program. During the month of August, each student is placed on a project or team and is mentored by current Impact members. The internship provides a great opportunity for the students to apply their skills from Shad and get a close-up look at one of Canada’s largest student-run organizations.

This year, we have 21 incredible interns working within our organization. Over the next month, each Shad intern will be writing a blog post that will describe their experience with Impact. Thank you to all of the Shads for their hard work and an even bigger thank you to the Shad Valley organization for providing us with the opportunity to take part in their incredible program.

Special thanks go to Amber Panchen-Porchak, the Shad Valley International Development Coordinator, for helping with this program, and providing us with the opportunity to work with these amazing talented students. Also, thank you to Clara Kim, my personal assistant for the Shad Internship Program at Impact for coordinating this blogging project. It’s going to be an amazing Impact-ful month of August for both the Shads and Impact!

Susie Pan
Shad Valley Internship Program Director
Shad Laval 2009

Canada’s online shopping and auction giant, eBay Canada, will be rewarding the most productive and innovative entrepreneurs and small business owners who sell products through their website in their Sixth Annual Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.  Currently, tens of thousands of Canadians gain income through eBay.  Since eBay Canada’s launch in 2000, more than 114 million items have been sold through the website.

This year, three awards are up for grabs, the first being the overall Entrepreneur of the Year Award, which recognizes small business owners who have benefited greatly through their online sales using eBay.  Last year’s winner of this award, Shaun Shienfield, has used eBay to increase online sales of his premium pre-owned golf balls.  His sales has grown significantly, to the point where he has set up a call centre to meet demand.  Presently, Shienfield’s business is the largest online seller of pre-owned golf balls.

A new award for this year is the Innovator of the Year Award, open to eBay small business owners who make use of innovative practices to engage and attract customers to advance their online businesses.  Also unique to this year’s contest is the Family Business of the Year Award, which is open to eBay small business owners who work with one or more family member(s).

“We’re out to discover examples of great Canadian entrepreneurial innovation and productivity,” said Andrea Stairs, country manager for eBay Canada. “We know that using eBay to generate income can often be a family affair, so we want to find and recognize the very best examples of husbands and wives, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters putting eBay to work for them. Canadians sell over a million items on eBay every month and, after 10 years in Canada, eBay has been a part of some remarkable Canadian business success stories.”

Prizes:

A winner will receive a cash prize of $2,500 for the Entrepreneur of the Year category and $1,500 will be awarded for each of the Innovator of the Year and Family Business of the Year titles.  All three winners will also enjoy $500 towards a business-related course or workshop and will be featured in a communication sent to more than two-million eBay buyers.

Eligibility:

To qualify for entry, eligible eBay members must meet the following criteria:

• Achieve a minimum of $1,000 CAD in sales per month
  on eBay.ca/eBay.com or the sites combined.
• Post a minimum of ten listings per month on eBay.ca
  and/or eBay.com.
• Have at least 98% positive feedback.
• Entrants must register for the competition and answer
  a set of questions. All entries must be received by
  August 15, 2010.

Do you think you have what it takes to enter?  Then click here!  The deadline is August 15th, so don’t wait any longer!

In this week’s video launched by I Am My Ambition, Canadian paralympian and wheelchair athlete Jeff Adams shares his experiences on overcoming barriers and setbacks.

Apart from having won a total of 13 medals from six consecutive Summer Paralympic Games from 1988-2008, Adams has won six world championships, climbed the 1,776 steps of the CN tower using a specially designed wheelchair, scaled the Acropolis, and co-founded Marvel Wheelchairs, a company dedicated to improving the design of existing wheelchairs.

In the newest video from I Am My Ambition, Jeff Adams talks about how overcoming obstacles can really strengthen oneself.  Watch the video at the I Am My Ambition website and tell us what you think!

I Am My Ambition launched its latest video today!  This week’s video features Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery, the creators of Kill Shakespeare Entertainment.

Kill Shakespeare is a comic book series where the greatest heroes of William Shakespeare’s plays are pitted against Shakespeare’s most menacing villains.  The heroes set out for a quest to find a reclusive wizard named William Shakespeare who may have the ability to assist them in their fight against the villains, while the villains are on a mission to kill the wizard Shakespeare.

In I Am My Ambition’s newest video, Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery discuss their experiences working in a partnership, as well as the hard decisions that they have had to make.  Watch the video on Youtube here or on the IAMA website and tell us what you think!

Held at Waterloo-Kitchener’s most fabulous venue, Communitech’s signature event took place in the early morning of Wednesday, July 14^th. Eight of us had the opportunity to be part of this high-profile conference, and were able to walk away with a set of fresh ideas.

Kicking off by keynote Clay Christensen, bestselling author of The Innovator’s Dilemma, the conference raised the energy of the attendance by Christensen’s unique theory about disruption.

The other two keynotes did not disappoint either. Bill Taylor, the co-founder of Fast Company, invited us to rethink about the differences between individuals. Noel Biderman, President of Avid Life Media, challenged our perspectives on social entertainment by confronting us with one of the most controversial websites.

Aside from the innovative speeches, we also took part in Communitech’s annual tech expo, and interacted with regional’s leading firms and high potential startups.

We felt applied to the HR team and Impact in general from matters such as being innovative and accepting ideas (from Noel’s speech) to understanding that we need to distinguish ourselves. – Macro Yim

I loved the conference for its great organization, high delegate moral and quality, and wonderful keynote. – Yue Liu

These take-aways, I’m sure, will spur us as we take on more future challenges to grow Impact bigger and better.

A huge thank you to Communitech for inviting us to this amazing conference and great job on all of our Impact ambassadors: Oleg Kostour, Nikhita Singh, Yong Gi Lim, Eric Ho, Susan Wang, Yue Liu, Marco Yim, and Scott Toldsdorf. Loved all your enthusiasm and professionalism!

Image courtesy of Communitech at http://www.communitech.ca/en/special_events/index.shtml