Year of the Entrepreneur

Last night I was at the Year of the Entrepreneur Spotlight on Entrepreneurs, held at the Carlu, as a guest of the Canadian Youth Business Foundation. What an inspiring evening. The evening was hosted by CYBF and CFIB and recognized Canadian entrepreneurs of all types with awards going to W. Galen Weston, Sheldon Levy of Ryerson and Bruce Poon Tip of G Adventures. An interesting mix with each of them representing such different aspects of entrepreneurship.

The crowd: a mix of 20-somethings, a couple of monarchy-loving fans who taped His Royal Highness Prince Charles's taped message to the audience on their iPhones, older seasoned entrepreneurs who never saw this kind of support when they were getting their businesses going when they were young, people supporting CYBF and CFIB with the work they're doing... nice, positive and passionate bunch of people.

I love to be advising and mentoring entrepreneurs with CYBF and MaRS on branding and marketing their ventures. It's such a cliché but it continuously teaches me as I watch how people manage brand and marketing for their startups. It's certainly changed the way I work as I've seen the need to make branding more accessible and move it from being seen as an expensive add-on to an integral part of every business plan.