Are you a high school student interested in developing your competitive advantage and networking with some of Canada’s brightest entrepreneurs? If so, then why not register for the 2010 Back to Business Conference to be held in Guelph on March 6, 2010.

B2B is the brainchild of 10 students, 2 of which are Impact members. Last year, Susie Pan and Mitchell Schinbein were Shad Valley Interns for Impact, working together on the Impact National Conference, giving them the inside experience of planning and executing a national conference.

The goal of the B2B conference is to bridge the gap between business skills and knowledge, teaching valuable and essential business skills that cannot be learned through textbooks.

Impact will be highlighted at the B2B conference – promoting the Impact Microcredit Competition and the 2010 Impact National Conference. The 2010 Back To Business Conference will also feature student keynotes, interactive business challenges such as the first ever Business Olympics, an exhibition of local resources and opportunities, as well as lots of networking opportunities.

Some of the events at the conference include:
- Elevator pitch – An opportunity to learn to develop your 30 second pitch.
- Exhibition Scavenger Hunt
- Patent Pending – An interactive marketing sales pitch challenge.

In addition, B2B is offering a $500 scholarship to a high school student who has demonstrated tremendous business leadership in his or her community. B2B has established this scholarship to recognize the amazing work of youth and their tremendous potential as future business leaders. To apply, please go to the website: www.back2business.org

Please register online or find out more information on www.back2business.org or email Susie Pan at susie@back2business.org.

Are you interested in building your resume, networking with the top youth leaders and industry professionals in the country, and becoming a key contributor to Canada’s premier youth-run projects?  If so, then why not join the Impact team?

The Impact Entrepreneurship Group (www.impact.org) is Canada’s largest youth-run entrepreneurship organization that celebrates and encourages the entrepreneurial spirit in young leaders.

Students working at Impact will have the opportunity to develop a diverse range of skills by participating in different programs and departments within Impact.

Projects that you may be involved in include:

• I Am My Ambition video campaign (Featuring established entrepreneurs)
• Impact Apprentice (A university-level business competition)
• Impact National Conference (Canada’s most prestigious youth entrepreneurship conference)
• Impact Connect (Organizing competitions, networking events, and seminars at university campuses)
• Communications and Public Relations

Why should you apply?

• An amazing resume addition for scholarship and university applications
• An opportunity to gain an edge in the competitive job market
• An opportunity to develop entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial skills
• Personal mentorship and networking opportunities
• A chance to work with Canada’s top scholarship winners and youth leaders
• The venue to learn the secrets of managing time and running high-level, high-budget projects

Who are Impact members and alumni?

• Top 20 Under 20 Recipients
• Merit Scholarship winners and recipients of every major Canadian scholarship
• Top university students from across the country, studying every discipline
• High school students who have demonstrated leadership in their communities and nationally
• Currently or previously employed at companies such as: Google, Amazon, Deloitte, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and more…
• Entrepreneurs managing million-dollar businesses
• Social and green entrepreneurs

Impact is looking for students who are resourceful and not afraid to try new things.  Our volunteers have good written and oral communication skills, and are self-starters who work well alone and in teams.  High value is placed on critical thinking skills and problem solving skills.

If you are interested in joining Impact, please send your resume and cover letter to Yue Liu, Director of Human Resources, at yue.liu@impact.org. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

As is becoming increasingly apparent at a local and global scale, society is facing a number of ‘big problems’. Problems bigger than choosing Starbucks or Second Cup for your morning coffee and even bigger than meeting next quarter quotas.

In the Waterloo Region, there are numerous organizations and new ideas being dedicated to solving the bigger problems of our local and global community by using innovative approaches. At 5:30pm on March 4th at the Kitchener Children’s Museum, these change-makers will come together to share their social innovations and seek support from this community as they continue to work towards finding new ways to solve old problems.

The event is called SEE: Social Entrepreneurship Exchange. It is a unique networking event bringing social entrepreneurship to the forefront, showcasing the innovative organizations and individuals who are using the principles of entrepreneurship to support a social or environmental injustice. This event is not only designed to help us learn about the social innovations through informal discussions and a pitch competition ($300 for winners!), but also features a poker-chip style exchange, where all participants become philanthropic investors in social change by receiving two $10 poker chips and one two-hour volunteer chip on arrival (from your $30 event fee). By the end of the night, as you learn about Social Innovation, if you hear something you like, support them with your chips. After the event the new ideas, or innovative organizations can turn those chips into real dollars (and contact information from donated time chips!) to help grow and develop their innovations.

This event is hosted by Students Offering Support (www.studentsofferingsupport.ca), a local turned national student-led social venture headquartered here in Waterloo. The event is sponsored by Capacity Waterloo Region and Laurier’s Centre for Sustainable Organizations. SEE’s community partners include: Manulife Financial, Leadership Waterloo Region, Communitech, DreamNow, Lime Events, and the Kitchener Children’s Museum.

When: Thursday, March 4th, 2010
Start Time: 5:30PM
Location: Kitchener Children’s Museum, 10 King Street West, Kitchener, ON
Tickets: $30 - Register now

To learn more about the event (check out our event video), and to register / participate – go to www.SEEinnovation.ca.

If you have any questions, e-mail seeinnovation@studentsofferingsupport.ca.  You canalso follow them on Twitter (@SOSnational) or Facebook (Students Offering Support).

Impact is coming to Kingston!  On March 6, we will be holding a one-day discussion about innovative thought and the entrepreneurial spirit.  We are bringing some extraordinary speakers who will talk about their journeys to success and their experiences as entrepreneurs.  Our speakers include, among others:

Bruce Poon Tip (Founder & President/CEO, Gap Adventures, Speaker @ TEDx Bangkok and TEDx Whistler)
Julie Mitchell (Founder & Owner, Parcel Design)
Lauren Friese (Founder & Owner, Talent Egg)
Bobby Umar (Founder & President, Raeallan Consulting)
Alyssa Richard (Co-Founder, Break into Business)
Dave Hale (Co-Founder & CEO, Re: Cognition Branding)
Peng-Sang Cau (Co-Founder & President/CEO, Transformix Engineering)
Michele Romanow (Co-Founder, Evandale Caviar)

If you are interested in building your entrepreneurial skills, then you should definitely come to this event.  With our great lineup of speakers, you are sure to learn a lot!  The best part is that this event is completely free!

DETAILS

Date:  Saturday, March 6, 2010

Time:  10:00 am – 4:15 pm

Address:  Ellis Hall, Queen’s University (58 University Avenue, Kingston, ON)

To register, click here or email jane.wu@impact.org .

This coming Friday, exactly one week before the 2010 Winter Olympics arrive in Vancouver, VEF Momentum will be hosting its first event of the year!

On Friday, February 5th at 5:30PM VEF Momentum: Higher, Faster, Stronger will feature a speaker and Q&A session, as well as ample networking time to help entrepreneurs connect with the people, resources and answers they need to succeed – all in an inviting, fun and casual atmosphere. What better way can you kick off the weekend than a great speaker, excellent company and delectable drinks and appetizers at our venue Pop Opera in the heart of downtown Vancouver.

When: Friday, February 5th, 2010
Start Time: 5:30PM
Location: Pop Opera, 686 W Hastings, Vancouver
Tickets: $10 – Register now (Registration is online only, there will be no registrations at the door and a maximum capacity of 150. Ticket price includes appetizers.)

The keynote speaker for the evening will be Mark Williams, Co-Founder of Elastic Path Software, a local success story that has created an e-commerce platform used by everyone from Sony Ericsson to the Vancouver Olympic Committee. Elastic Path has consistently ranked among the fastest growing companies in Canada. Mark will share some great war stories co-founding his start-up in Vancouver and will share what first-time entrepreneurs can do to reach the podium in their entrepreneurial endeavours.

Click here to register now!

For more information, please contact VEF Momentum at vefmomentum@gmail.com. You can also follow them on Twitter (@VEFMomentum), Facebook (VEF Momentum) or LinkedIn (group name: VEF Momentum).