Promotion and Awareness

The CIEE’s promotion and awareness activities help sensitize students to entrepreneurship. Activities include:

Entrepreneurship Week (EWeek)

Set to coincide with Global Entrepreneurship Week, this four-day intensive entrepreneurship camp consists of workshops, contests, high profile guest speakers, access to entrepreneurship training and support organizations and one-on-one mentorship activities. Thousands of participants converge annually on Dawson College to network, share and develop the next big idea.

Le Défi OSEntreprendre (formerly known as Concours Québecois en entrepreneuriat)

The CIEE is the local representative for Le Défi OSEntreprendre. The CIEE is responsible for creating a local contest, selecting a jury and entering winning students in the regional contest. The CIEE has chosen to use the Dawson’s Den activity of EWeek in November as the local contest, the winners of which are entered in the Concours. Students can win up to $3,000 in cash prizes. Here is an excerpt from the contest’s website:

The contest aims to promote an entrepreneurial culture in Québec among participants of all ages. It rewards the best initiatives in the schools and in business creation. It fills a niche neglected by other contests of this sort by targeting both students and new entrepreneurs who are often about to start or just starting a business. In addition, it is the only Québec contest that provides cash prizes and awards of such high value.

But the Contest is far more than just a contest: it is an organization that fosters the emergence of a new generation of Québec entrepreneurs. Over the years, it has become an important vehicle for economic development in resource regions and large urban areas alike. It has contributed to the rise of young businesses that have benefited from the support, visibility and credibility they acquired as prize winners to develop durable roots, strengthen their foundations and create jobs.

Participation in Startup Weekend

The CIEE helps prepare students to participate in this annual event. Startup Weekends are 54-hour events where developers, designers, marketers, product managers and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, form teams, build products and launch start-ups. Here is an excerpt from the organization’s website:

Startup Weekends are weekend-long, hands-on experiences where entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs can find out if startup ideas are viable. On average, half of Startup Weekend’s attendees have technical backgrounds, the other half have business backgrounds.
Startup Weekend was founded by Andrew Hyde in July of 2007 in Boulder, Colorado. Its mission is to educate entrepreneurs and build communities around the world. The first weekend saw 78 people attend. It launched a random idea that became a worldwide movement. Startup Weekend quickly became a nexus for early stage startup activity in communities across the globe. By the end of 2010, Startup Weekend had built a network of over 25,000 alumni, 150 volunteer organizers and 60 trained facilitators spread across more than 100 cities in 30 countries.

International Startup Festival

Every year, the CIEE recruits student to volunteer for the International Startup Festival in July. Here is an excerpt from the festival’s website:

The International Startup Festival puts a new spin on entrepreneurship each year with content ranging from back-of-the-napkin ideas to champagne-popping exits. Keynotes, interactive how-to sessions, powerful lessons from battle-scarred founders, and the list goes on. There’s nothing quite like Startupfest!