Student entrepreneurs from across the country will be in Halifax on Tuesday to begin working with experienced entrepreneurs at the Starting Point Entrepreneurship Conference at Saint Mary’s University.

Starting Feb. 19, the three-day conference will bring student entrepreneurs from post-secondary institutions and high schools together to work with entrepreneurs, CEOs and startup experts. 

The format allows students to focus on developing a business idea or growing an existing business, the organizers said in a statement.

Events include keynote speakers, master classes with successful businesspeople, funder speed dating and the Iron Entrepreneur Tournament.  At the end of the conference, students will have a chance to win cash investments for their businesses.

The Keynote Speaker will be Manu “Swish” Goswami, Startup Canada’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Just 21 years old, Goswami is already a serial entrepreneur, a LinkedIn Youth Editor, a past Fortune 500 consultant for Google and American Express, a venture capitalist, a UN Youth Ambassador, and a three-time TEDx speaker.

Master class instructors include: Kena Paranjape, the Co-Founder of  boutique online retailer BRIKA and the Founder of All You Are; Bailey Parnell, the Founder and CEO of SkillsCamp, a soft skills training company; and Laura Simpson, the CEO and Co-Founder (along with artist, Dan Mangan) of Side Door, a Canadian startup that aims to create greater value and opportunities for performing artists by facilitating shows in houses and other alternative venues.

Since it began in 2015, the conference has hosted 590 student entrepreneurs from post-secondary institutions and high schools from across the country and given over $40,000 in funding and prizes.

The conference is organized by the Saint Mary’s University Entrepreneurship Centre. Over the past five years, SMUEC programs have provided opportunities to more than 4,500 students, allowing them to be engaged in curricular and extra-curricular activities.