The 2009 Impact National Conference ended in a blast last night at the Toronto Westin Harbour Castle, leaving hundreds of delegates inspired and equipped to lead the growth of Canada in the near future with their innovative ideas and entrepreneurial determination.

The two-day annual flagship event of Impact reached new heights this year, by gathering 500 top student entrepreneurs and leaders around Canada to learn and network together through participation in workshops, speaker series, the grand gala and many other inspiring events. With the opening key-note address by Andy Nulman, president and CMO of Airborne Mobile and former CEO of Just For Laughs, the conference started early on Friday, as crisp and exciting as the morning. Inspired to think creatively and boldly, the delegates were blown away with more informative speaker series, followed by workshops of a variety of topics, training delegates in their area of interest in a personal and interactive way. The conference reached its climax with the grand gala, bringing together all the student representatives and hundreds of industry leaders to network while enjoying delicious food and, most importantly, speeches by Leslie Roberts from Global Toronto, and Justin Trudeau from the Canadian parliament. Five prestigious awards honouring entrepreneurs in different areas of focus were presented to five impressive young Canadian entrepreneurs who set examples for all delegates as well as every Canadian youth.

With the closing speech of Jordan Banks, managing partner of Thunder Road Capital and former Managing Director of eBay Canada, the Impact National Conference of 2009 ended in cheers and applause, much of which goes to our speakers, sponsors, partners, and delegates. The rest? Of course going to our conference team of 2009, who worked days after nights to push the event to its perfection. With the conference being a new record of success for the Impact Entrepreneurship Group, we are now looking into the bright year ahead, during which we will unleash our creative ideas and passion for entrepreneurship to bring more value to all of our follower and supporters, through many new initiatives and ongoing projects.

This is not the end, this is not even the beginning of the end, but this is the beginning of success, for the delegates, for Impact, and for the growing entrepreneurial spirit among Canadian youth!

Impact 2009 Team!

What is it like to be able to share your thoughts and ideas with thousands of people via a video show? Fantastic, as in the opinion of the three of us Impact members who had the opportunity to join Mark Franklin, the host of Career Buzz on CIUT 89.5 FM last week on Friday, October 30th, 2009. During the one-hour show targeted at university students, graduates, and well as other people interested in seeking career opportunities, we were engaged in a fun and informative talk mainly about youth entrepreneurship and how our experience on the Impact Entrepreneurship Group has influenced where we are today in our academic life and our career paths.

The show featured Christine Lu, the director of Impact’s communications team, Aditya Shah, an Impact alumni who has successfully started his entrepreneurial venture, and Yue Liu, a past Impact Microcredit Competition participant and a current Impact member, as well as Herky Cutler, the youth career correspondence of CareerCycles based in Alberta. The conversation flowed from general career and academic choices and paths chosen by the Impact members to how Impact has had a positive impact on the not only the lives of Impacters, but also thousands of youth across Canada. The entrepreneurial spirit promoted by Impact is fully demonstrated by the three interviewees as they carry out different innovative ventures in their extracurricular activities and career adventures. As university students and graduates, we have truly received a lot from Impact, among which the most important would be the vision and confidence to look at the alternative path of entrepreneurship as supposed to finding a corporate job, and to have the ability to carry out your passion and to realize your dream. Relating to the current economic downturn, we reached the conclusion that now would be the best time for young people to take a serious look at all their career alternatives, including starting a business in an area of their expertise and passion. While starting a business might not be your interest, a passion for entrepreneurial pursuits and innovations would still be necessary for today’s youth to stand out of the crowd and to really utilize their resources in accomplishing something valuable both to them and to the society.

And that is where Impact comes into play – to promote entrepreneurial spirit and leadership among Canadian youth, by hosting events and competitions, providing services, and spreading the news such as by having an enjoyable chat on the radio show. Please join us in appreciating youth entrepreneurship on Career Buzz, and see how entrepreneurship plays an important role in your career path! Photos to come soon!