The fourth annual Starting Point Student Entrepreneurship Conference is coming to a close today and organizers say the number of participants reached a record this year.
A total of 185 students registered for the three-day conference put on by the Sobey School Business Development Centre at St. Mary’s University, and more showed up at the door. The theme of this year’s conference centred on being fearless.
“We want to teach them that entrepreneurship is not as scary as it sounds,” said Sarah Meaney, one of the organizers. “However you want to make your entrepreneurship journey is up to you and it should be fun and not scary at all.”
Organizers made a few changes to the schedule structure to respond to the growth. They extended their master classes—sessions taught by entrepreneurs—over the course of two days and added an additional class. Attendees got to learn from local companies such as Skyline, Halifax Paper Hearts and one of the creators of the Sickboy podcast. The organizers also mixed up the locations and opened parts of the conference to the public.
Starting Point also opened its doors to about 30 high school students to take part in its high school pipeline workshop and other events.
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Matt Wowchuk, a SMU grad and CEO of Toronto-based North Keg, was one of the many Sobey School of Business alumni to attend the conference. A few years back, Wowchuk attended the conference and won $500 for his business idea.
This year, he was back with that same $500 to donate to Starting Point’s funding pool.
The conference handed out $8,000 in cash prizes over the course of three days, as well as $500 in door prizes. Attendees got the chance to start funding their business ideas right away through events like the Funder Speed Dating and the Iron Entrepreneur.
On the second night, Tristram Stuart, an entrepreneur and food waste advocate, gave a keynote address at Casino Nova Scotia. He is the author of such books as The Bloodless Revolution and Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal.
Starting Point, which aims to “change the world through entrepreneurship” by teaching students to hone their entrepreneurial ideas, will close this afternoon with an awards ceremony at SMU.
“It starts with them just sharing,” said organizer Michael Sanderson. “It’s like a snowball going down a hill. That’s why I love this conference -- because I meet so many students on Day 1 and they don’t want to share their idea and by the end of this conference they’ve won money, everyone is telling them they have a good idea. But more importantly, they’re engaged."
Disclosure: St. Mary's University is a client of Entrevestor.
