In honour of Global Entrepreneurship Week, we chatted with one of our partners, Madeleine Bazerghi of Dawson College to learn more about what they do for GEW and why they choose to get so involved with the week each year. Here is what she had to say…
1) Tell us a little bit of background on Dawson College.
Situated in the heart of Montréal’s downtown core, Dawson College is Québec’s largest Anglophone CEGEP with roughly 8,250 full-time day students, 2,400 continuing education students, 600 faculty and a 200+ team of support staff. The college currently offers over 30 programs in 50+ fields of study.
2) Tell me a bit about your role and what you do? How you are specifically involved in GEW?
I am the project lead for the entrepreneurship initiative at Dawson College. I am the founder of the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education at the college and am currently leading a project with our partner Cégep du Vieux Montréal to develop a business incubator for the creative and cultural industries.
My main role is to promote entrepreneurship as an educational value and plan and organize instructional and extracurricular activities related to entrepreneurship.
In 2012 a colleague and I decided to put on the first edition of Entrepreneurship Week (EWeek) at Dawson College. We picked the month of November because it is one of those in between months when the light is low and winter is approaching. It’s kind of a dull month and we wanted to create a fun event for the students. It was pure coincidence that the week we chose for this coincided with GEW!! We became GEW partners because someone in Montreal’s entrepreneurship ecosystem pointed this out to us!
3) Why is celebrating GEW so important to Dawson College?
GEW is a great opportunity to showcase Montreal entrepreneurs and to have students consider entrepreneurship as a viable career path. Dawson College has been named Trailblazer of the year by Global Entrepreneurship Week Canada in 2014 and has become the go-to place for Global Entrepreneurship Week in Montreal!! GEW’s visibility has helped us attract many partners to our projects and have led to the development of a solid base of mentors and coaches for our students and for the incubator project.
4) What do you have planned for GEW 2015?
The 4-day event at Dawson College has expanded to 5 days in 2015.
This year, the 4th edition of Dawson College Eweek will include workshops, speakers, idea pitches by students and much more during this 5-day intensive entrepreneurial camp. We will also target the broader Montreal entrepreneurial community with evening activities designed to connect them with our students. On the 5th day, Dawson College will be hosting GLAMBITION, an entrepreneurship initiative for high school girls led by the Table des CJE de l’Île-de-Montréal.
5) Why do you think it’s important to teach college students about entrepreneurship and encourage it?
By instilling the entrepreneurial values of perseverance, leadership, initiative, solidarity, creativity, and responsibility to name a few, we help create the leaders of tomorrow.
6) What was your highlight from GEW last year (if you specifically were involved)?
The highlight of Eweek 2015 was the evening keynote speaker Ingrid Vanderveldt who came to Eweek courtesy of the US Consulate in Montreal, and was a tremendous hit. Consul General, Nina Marie Fite introduced Vandervedlt noting the consulate’s role in supporting entrepreneurship worldwide.
Ingrid Vanderveldt, CEO and Chairperson of Empowering a Billion Women by 2020 and former Entrepreneur in Residence at Dell is a successful businesswoman and media personality. Ingrid’s resolve is to empower women worldwide by providing them with mobile devices, access to resources, financial literacy and support to succeed as business leaders.
Ingrid was greeted at the sold-out Eweek venue by a hand drawn digital portrait, courtesy of Ali Hassanein, an Illustration & Design student. Totally impressed by this warm welcome, the mood was set for an inspiring talk, captivating the audience and leaving budding entrepreneurs with some advice: Find a mentor, keep things simple and focused on 90 day goals, what people want to know is what you can offer them and try to succeed in everything you do so that tomorrow you can build upon your successes. Her most tweeted message is: “One person with a clear vision and a committed heart can change the world”.