Are you thinking about entrepreneurship but are a little nervous about the industry? Have you been wondering what it’s like to pitch an idea to investors? Do you want to see young entrepreneurs in action? If so, get inspiration from skilled entrepreneurs by watching them present innovative ideas and solutions at a pitch off event. Use entrepreneur competitions and events as an opportunity to get to know yourself as an aspiring entrepreneur and grow in the community. Here are some benefits you can gain just from attending networking events, pitch-off competitions, and more!
Learn from Leading Experts
The best advantage you can have as an aspiring entrepreneur is learning from those that are in the same journey as you. See for yourself what it's like to be in a higher level stage of the entrepreneurial journey. Take note of how these experts present themselves, their business, and their innovative solutions to key stakeholders such as investors, funding partners, and potential customers.
Get Inspiration from Like-Minded Entrepreneurs
If you are starting your entrepreneurial journey, inspiration and creativity is key to help you get started. If you are struggling with brainstorming, take inspiration from upcoming and rising trends within the industry and community to help kickstart your idea generation process. The best ideas are the ideas that people know and care about. So be curious and dive into areas that will inspire and motivate you!
Connect With Your Community
Attending networking events is the best way to connect with the entrepreneurial community. One of the most important benefits of networking is being able to meet influencers in your industry along with people in similar positions as you. This will give you valuable insight on your industry and community by having connections with people that may be able to share their knowledge and provide you with unique opportunities.
Motivation to Get Started!
The best way to get started with something you are passionate about is putting yourself in the perfect environment! Why not throw yourself right into it! Being exposed to people and situations that can help you grow to the entrepreneur you want to be can be extremely motivating!
If you want to take advantage of networking opportunities, check out The Impact Innovation Challenge Pitch Off Event happening August 24 and watch teams pitch their impactful ideas to create change in the world! Use this as your opportunity to grow as an entrepreneur and begin your journey. Check it out here to register and attend the free live event!
Our Annual Impact Innovation Challenge for young entrepreneurs across Canada has been mindblowing. Youth innovation is alive and rising! This year, the Impact Innovation Challenge consists of 3 categories of different kinds of ventures: Aspiring, Growth, and Non-Profit Entrepreneurs. The challenge focuses on entrepreneurs building a social impact venture and will pitch their startup and startup ideas for a chance to win cash, mentorship, legal support and coaching prizes to boost their startup. Thank you to our partners for supporting youth in Canada. These prizes are made possible by our cash prize partner SAP, RBC, Hootsuite, Osler, AO, Scale Collaborative and more! A special thank you to our submission review committee, our judging panel and Volition for offering pitch training for our finalists!
Here are the finalists that you’ll be seeing at our Impact Innovation Challenge 2021!
Aspiring Ventures:
The Aspiring Category represents aspiring entrepreneurs with brand new ideas that focuses on their idea and solution to their problem. This category is suited for youth exploring entrepreneurship for the first time and have been working on their problem and solution for less than a year! Here are your aspiring entrepreneurs!
Transition Space
Meet the Transition Space Team, Will, Charlotte, Caleb, Lindsay, and Sarah! Transition Space is an online hub dedicated to helping Ontario youth navigate the adult disability system. This team takes a collaborative approach to provide information on components of the disability system, share personalized community resources to connect youth to the adult disability system, and facilitate conversations between youth, families, and care providers.
Cequest
Meet Devinder, Founder of Cequest! Cequest has a vision to create a place where children can walk outside and breathe in clean air where biodiversity thrives both on land and sea. Cequest brings a solution with the potential to sequester over 10 Gt of carbon dioxide per year by 2050. Cequest sequesters carbon to produce clean hydrogen fuel as well as a bicarbonate that can be released into the ocean to combat ocean acidification.
Orwell
Meet the Orwell Team, Veer, Pranav, and Jai! Orwell is the world’s first anti-social media platform! Their goal is to mitigate social media addiction in an accessible manner allowing for the improvement of both mental health and productivity in youths and adults alike. They are a non-profit technology company committed to transforming mental health for everyone.
PALcares
Meet the PALCares team, Dylan, Darby, Sasha, and Luke! PALcares provides social good impact for community members who struggle to obtain relevant and applicable support and for government and non-profit stakeholders who lack the infrastructure to address service gaps, service duplication and sector inefficiencies. PALcares guides the community with an online interface that connects them to a personalized list of relevant social supports.
ClinicalVR
Meet the ClinicalVR team, Andrew, Kalter, Sanchi, Tyvaughn! ClinicalVR utilizes virtual reality (VR) technology. They are an early-stage start-up trying to change the lack of VR in clinical practice by providing hospitals and outpatient clinics with VR headsets, VR software which includes VR experiences developed based on patient and healthcare provider feedback, and VR support/training.
Kaptis
Meet the Kaptis Team, Anupra, Taira, and Riya! Since the beginning of the climate crisis, carbon dioxide has been viewed as a pollutant we need to remove. Kaptis views it as a resource. The Kaptis team is aiming to build a reactor that can convert captured carbon dioxide to valuable solid carbon products, with a focus on graphene.
MODASTY
Meet Roaa, founder of MODASTY. MODASTY will be the only online marketplace for modest fashion. Inspired by the shopping challenges of all women who shop for modest fashion, MODASTY will aggregate modest and islamic inventory from brands and boutiques all over the world and bring it into one online space for one seamless checkout. MODASTY is the Amazon of modest fashion.
Growth Ventures
The Growth category represents entrepreneurs at an early stage for profit impact business that have been operating for less than two years and have validated their model through early traction! Meet your Growth entrepreneurs!
FlutterCare
Meet Dolma, CEO and Founder of Flutter Care Inc., a digital health company based in Vancouver, B.C. whose technology promotes positive pregnancy experiences and outcomes. Flutter Care, a new technology designed to predict and prevent pregnancy complications, has received recognition from 8+ institutions. This includes the Canadian Medical Association, British Columbia’s Medical Device Development Center, and Innovation UBC. In 2020, Flutter Care was announced as a winner of Startup Canada’s SDG Impact Pitch Competition for their work to advance gender equality.
Apricotton
Meet Chloe Beaudoin and Jessica Miao, Co-Founders of Apricotton! Apricotton is a Toronto-based teen bra brand that helps girls across Canada and the U.S find bras that fit and make them feel confident. They eliminate the awkwardness of going to the store to buy a girl’s first bra. Most importantly, they design bras tailored to every girl’s body type, so that they can grow as she grows.
Typha Co.
Meet Alec and Julien, Co-Founders of Typha Co. Typha Co. vision is to ultimately bring production in-house by deploying the first of its kind Typha bio-refinery, which will integrate a spectrum of bio-based products (chemicals, materials, feed) and bioenergy (heat, electrical power, biofuels). They are empowering the collective good to solve Lake WInnipeg’s environmental crisis!
PEKO Produce
Meet the PEKO Produce Team, Arielle and Sang Le! Peko Produce delivers "peculiar" products to your doorstep for up to 40% off retail prices. Peko Produce purchases otherwise unsold “imperfect” produce from farmers and brokers at wholesale, providing them revenue that would have otherwise been unrecognized and discarded. They then compile all the varieties of produce into a box, sold at a fixed cost to the consumer at a heavily discounted price (in contrast to other retail grocery stores). Their mission is to empower access to affordable, healthy diets and rescue local food waste, one delivery at a time.
Reusables.com
Meet the Reusables Team, Anastasia and Jason! Reusables was founded to help eliminate single-use plastics from our daily routines. Despite the convenience of single-use plastics, they present a threat to our planet and we would prefer to live in a world without them.They decided to break down the barriers between private, public and academic institutions and design a robust solution that is reshaping the way we consume.
Hydronos Financial Technologies
Meet the Hydronos Financial Technologies Team, Jeremy and Philip! Hydronos establishes and offers an investable tokenized product for small-scale, sustainable infrastructure. The digital security, which uses blockchain technology to represent a tradable asset, enables private retail investors to invest in an asset class that had been previously difficult to invest in due to lack of liquidity, high transaction costs and limited transparency.
ROVR
Meet the ROVR Team, Anthony and Kyle! ROVR is a VR Social Network that connects people based on common interests, mutual friends, and groups. ROVR enables the coolest thing about Social VR (and the Metaverse): that you can meet really interesting people easily, for free across any distance, and naturally befriend them. As VR hits the mainstream, ROVR will bring niche communities together, starting with the power VR users of today. When people make friends in VR, or bring their IRL friends to VR, they become power-users and realize the potential of Social VR. ROVR will be the social glue of the Metaverse.
Non-Profit Ventures
Meet your Non-Profit Entrepreneurs! This category represents early stage impact driven nonprofits that have validated their model through early traction.
Free Periods Canada Foundation
Meet the Free Periods Canada Foundation Team, Zeba and Niki! Free Periods Canada Foundation is a grassroots, youth-run, registered non-profit organization. They are focused on fighting menstrual inequity and period stigma in Canada. Their solution is a unique integration of technology and community engagement in the field of menstrual equity advocacy, which does not currently exist in Canada. This tool can also be used as a networking opportunity for those interested in menstrual activism to connect with each other and other sexual and reproductive health experts.
Threading Change Foundation
Meet Sophia, Founder of Threading Change Foundation! Threading Change is a youth-led not-for-profit organization envisioning a future where fashion is ethical and circular, rooted in justice with climate, gender, and racial equity at the forefront. They work at the intersections of consumer education and industry transformation through our tri-impact model of education, innovative storytelling, and policy research.
Warrior Yoga Network
Meet the Warrior Yoga Network Team, Casse and Jesse! Warrior Yoga Network is a worldwide network of yoga and meditation teachers taking action to create a more inclusive and accessible yoga community. They are solving for the barriers that prevent people from accessing yoga and meditation as wellness practices. These are financial, social, cultural, geographic, physical barriers that prevent people from accessing wellness practices. These problems exist largely because the commodification of the wellness industry prioritizes profit - because of this, various systems of oppression are replicated and many people are left behind.
Youth Helping Youth Non-Profit
Meet Anjali, Founder of Youth Helping Youth Non-Profit! Youth Helping Youth (YHY) is an international organization that promotes youth development. YHY aims to bridge the accessibility gap of resources and opportunities (scholarships, jobs, volunteer positions, tutoring resources) available to youth in low-income communities through easily accessible digital marketing platforms such as Instagram or Facebook.
Break the Divide Foundation
Meet the Break The Divide Team, Sukhmeet and Abhayjeet! Break The Divide solves the challenges of apathy, denial, and polarization about issues through connection. They provide a space for young people to come together and connect with one another through genuine and intentional conversations. They help tackle the problem of the difficulty of tackling global issues by helping students focus on the challenges from local perspectives.
Accesso Canada
Meet the Accesso Canada team, Kath, Katie, Abigail, Tejas, Cecilia, Jim, and Gloria! Accesso Canada is a student-run collective of over 40 members from various backgrounds and interests. Based in Toronto, Accesso is focused on making the city more accessible through in depth reviews on how accessible malls and stores are across the GTA. Accesso Canada is not only an organization to promote the awareness for accessibility needs but also one to promote the youth voice and perspective regarding various issues.
Viability (Rebranding to Neurodivergent Futures)
Meet the Viability Team, Eliana, Vale, and Annanya! Viability is a youth-led organization dedicated to empowering neurodivergent youth in work, school, and life and supporting businesses in becoming more neuro-inclusive. Having operated in a disability space for 3.5 years, Viability has grown to offer a range of services including employment coaching, leadership programming, recreational programming, educational workshops, process consulting and community events. Unlike most other organizations in this space, they are disability-led and peer-to-peer, with 70% of our core team members identifying as neurodivergent.
Wow! We are blown away by the sheer number of ideas and innovation there are in this group of astounding finalists! Along with the diversity of applicant ideas and applicants residing from coast to coast of Canada. Now that you have met all the finalists, get ready to watch their amazing pitches at our Live Free Pitch Off event! This is a Pitch Off you don’t want to miss!
The finalists will present their impactful and innovative ideas for prizes on August 24, 2021. Come listen to the top teams pitch to a panel of judges for amazing prizes (including up to $5000 per category) and mentorship opportunities! Each category will be in its own breakout room and audience members can choose which room they’d like to attend! Click here to register and get access to the event! Support your community and favourite finalists!
Knowing how to pitch your startup is essential to the success of your business! You can have the best product or service, but without the attraction of investors, your business will have difficulty scaling up. We’ve rounded up some tips for you to remember when you’re making your startup pitch.
Remember Your Goals
Before you begin your pitch, consider why you are pitching. Ask yourself what milestones and goals you want to achieve and structure your pitch on those milestones. Why are you creating the pitch? Are you trying to bring your idea to the world? Are you trying to gain interest from an investor or investors? Or are you trying to find partners? Be aware that this can change over time as your pitch and business evolves. With your goals in mind, consider how you structure your pitch.
Connect With Your Audience
In order to make an impactful pitch, you must cater your messaging and story to who you are speaking to. Remember who it is you are pitching to. Is it an investor? A venture capital fund or a government funder? Whoever it is, you must create that connection and involve the audience! Replace “I” with “we” and prompt the audience to feel! The intention is to share your problem and make it relatable to people with like minded beliefs.
Highlight Proven Traction
Make sure you provide numbers in your pitch! This means showing investors valuable traction that demonstrates progress and momentum of your business. This can be things like number of downloads, achieved revenue, social media insights and growth, etc. Showing numbers and proven traction will illustrate your customers, opportunities, and problems that you want to solve.
Tell Your Story
Although numbers matter, so does your story. Structuring your pitch or any presentation for that matter, in a story format, creates emotional attachment with your audience. Remember that stories are compelling and can sell your business because they tell people about who you are, convey your values, foster community and collaboration, and impart knowledge and education. Include an opening that involves the audience and shares your problem. Your closing must offer a call to action to join your organization’s journey and offer your solution.
Make Use of Visuals
Provide visuals to your audience! Facts, Numbers, and important details can easily be presented through visuals such as photos, graphs, diagrams, infographics, and charts! Your slides should visualize your business solution, business model, market opportunity, and competition in a clear and concise format. Visuals can speak louder than words, so consider how you visually communicate your idea to your audience.
If you want to watch a real pitch competition live with real young entrepreneurs bringing their ideas to life, LOI is hosting the Impact Innovation Challenge Pitch Off on August 24, 2021. Click here to register and attend the free online event!
This week’s summer camp was all about sparking your story and sharing your vision with the world. To be an impactful changemaker, you’ll need to inspire clothes to support your idea and vision and also use this as an opportunity to validate your solution.
Our Keynote speaker, Eric Termuende, founder of NoW, spoke about his expertise in storytelling and public speaking. He taught us the great success there is when you connect your story with your passion. If you can share your story and make it personal, you become the hero of your story and you become that much more attractive to your audience. You should structure your story with a beginning, middle and end. Consider the pain that isn’t resolved, the change, and the solution. Use emotion and descriptive words so your audience can relate to your story.
A panel took place with The Three Ships team to learn all about their humble beginning and how they transformed into a multimillion dollar enterprise. Connie and Laura from Three Ships provided us with three tips that they learned along the way.
Get used to a lot of “no’s”
Know when to be scrappy and when to spend
Be flexible (but unwavering in your vision)
Their story from how it started to how it's going is truly inspiring. Their one last tip is to challenge yourself to find your why and start doing it!
Ghalia Aamer from TalkMaze held a workshop for crafting and sharing your own story. To help guide our story, she introduced three questions to start us off. Why do you do what you do? What do you do? And what sets you apart? These are great questions to guide you when you begin to tell your story to an audience.
Aashni Shah from HypeDocs held a workshop for celebrating your achievements and overcoming Imposter Syndrome. Imposter Syndrome is a psychological pattern in someone who doubts their skills, talents, and accomplishments. The best way to overcome this is to talk about yourself with more confidence. Track your accomplishments so that you realize you are doing a lot more than you think!
A very eventful last day of camp! Here are some takeaways for you:
Use emotions, small words, and descriptive words for relatability when telling your story
Getting your first customer can take a long time, take “no’s” as learning opportunities
Practice public speaking and find what sets you apart and use that to lead your story
Build your confidence!
Thank you for joining Summer of Impact 2021! We look forward to seeing all of your ideas come to life as young changemakers.
Who joined us this week?
Eric Termuende
Eric Termuende, Co-Founder of NoW, has spoken for events all around the world. Eric has been the insight-packed, outside-of-the-box storyteller that has helped organizations from Amazon to Toyota shape the future of their workforce. As Co-founder of NoW of Work, Eric has worked first-hand with industry-leading organizations helping develop resiliency and a more intentional future of work, as well as writing a best-selling book on the topic. From the TEDx stage to Forbes, the Globe and Mail, Financial Post, and bookshelves across the country, Eric is a trusted resource as we navigate uncertainty and create a better tomorrow at work.
Three Ships
Connie Lo, is the Co-founder of Three Ships, an all natural, vegan skincare brand on a mission to make clean beauty accessible for all women by providing 100% plant-derived, certified cruelty-free skincare products all under $40. At Three Ships, Connie spearheads strategic partnerships, vendor + retailer management, brand strategy, sales, and marketing. Connie’s interest in natural skincare began at a young age when she would whip up DIY face masks and concoctions for her skin after coming home from school. She grew up believing in the importance of eating well and taking care of your skin, rather than covering skin blemishes up with makeup.
Along with her love of natural beauty, Connie also grew up with a strong passion for entrepreneurship. Throughout high school, Connie ran her own businesses and was selected to ring the opening bell at the Toronto Stock Exchange due to her natural entrepreneurial spirit. Her thirst for business continued throughout her time at Queen’s University, where she joined and co-chaired an international entrepreneurs’ competition. After graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce, Connie wanted to combine her passion for wellness with female empowerment. In 2016, a mutual friend introduced Connie to Laura Burget. Both frustrated about the lack of affordable, clean skincare on the market, the two took their $4,000 CAD and began creating their own formulations in their apartment kitchens with the goal to one day create the most transparent natural beauty brand in the world. In 2017, Three Ships was officially born.
When Connie is not focusing on Three Ships, you can find Connie traveling the world, hitting up the hottest restaurants and bars, practicing healthy living, and spending time with her fiancé, Jason.
Laura Burget, Co-founder of Three Ships, spearheads product innovation and formulations, operations, back-end production, and financials. Laura is a life-long supporter of businesses with high ethical standards. Her journey into entrepreneurship began at the ripe age of 9 when she sold handmade crafts and jewelry at her elementary school to raise money for endangered animals. While in school at the University of Toronto for Chemical Engineering, she even ran two businesses on the side. It was through these experiences that she fell in love with entrepreneurship and became fascinated with creating something from nothing.
She began using coconut oil to remove makeup naturally but was frustrated by the mess it created. After looking for a natural, yet effective and more convenient alternative, Laura was unable to find anything on the market. In 2016, a mutual friend introduced Laura to Connie Lo. Both frustrated about the lack of affordable, clean skincare on the market, the two took their $4,000 CAD and began creating their own formulations in their apartment kitchens with the goal to one day create the most transparent natural beauty brand in the world. In 2017, Three Ships was officially born.
When Laura is not focusing on Three Ships, she enjoys hikes outside of the city, going to the gym, exploring new restaurants with friends, and participating in any form of competition (especially board games).
Ghalia Aamer
Ghalia Aamer, Founder of TalkMaze, realized her passion for entrepreneurship when she set out to become a tutor at the age of 13. She was unable to find a company that would hire her because of her age so she decided to launch her own business, Toon Tutors, with a goal of providing meaningful employment opportunities for young people and affordable educational tools for families. In an effort to help peers foster interest in entrepreneurship, Ghalia started the first business-focused club at her high school, OSA Entrepreneurs. The club connected students with mentors and resources to teach them about entrepreneurship. Ghalia recently represented Canada as the country’s youngest delegate for the G20 Young Entrepreneurs’ Alliance Summit, championing youth entrepreneurship across the world.
Aashni Shah
Aashni Shah is a Software Engineer turned founder building HypeDocs , a tool used to help people beat imposter syndrome, gain confidence and take control of their career narrative. Aashni has been recognized as one of the Top 50 Inspiring Women in STEM, as well as an Emerging Leader Under 40 in Canada.
Innovation Challenge 2021
Ready to show off what you’ve learned? Want to take your innovative business or non-profit idea to the next level? What’s your impactful solution?
Submit your solution by August 5 in our Innovation Challenge. This year there will be 3 separate categories (aspiring, growth, and non-profit) with 5 finalists each. Each category winner will receive a cash prize, mentorship, and perks from our partners. See more details here.
Interested in participating but don't have a team or want to ask questions about your idea/startup before submitting? Email academy@theleagueofinnovators.com
We want to hear from you!
We want to hear from you!
After the session, let us know what you thought about Week 4! Click here for our survey and take 2 minutes to share your feedback!
This week’s summer camp was all about sparking change and generating radical ideas. Ideas come from understanding who you’re solving the problem for which requires you to flex your creative muscle and take a human-centred design approach.
Our Keynote speaker, Ryan Holmes, founder of Hootsuite, spoke about the process of ideation and provided us with the best tips. He taught us that the best ideas are the ideas that others care about. It might not start with the “BIG IDEA”, but it does start with the little ideas and building on those. It’s about being present in the moment and understanding what is the most impactful solution for your audience. In the end, his number one tip is to be curious, find that big wave, and get focused on that idea that will serve you really well!
A panel took place with The Knowledge Society (TKS) team to learn all about how to bring your ideas to life. The team emphasized the importance of professional connections. Cold calling connections can be a powerful tool for seeking opportunities and being part of something bigger that you are passionate about. Focus on something that hasn’t been done before, and find gaps in existing solutions! TKS introduced “Moonshot Thinking” which is an ambitious, exploratory, and groundbreaking way of thinking and solving problems.
Leah Coss, founder of Build a Biz, held a mini challenge for creative ideation sprint. She taught us how sprint ideation can push you to efficiently and creatively brainstorm by using Miro Boards. Decision making is one of the most important roles as an entrepreneur and using a “creative ideation sprint” will help expedite the decision making process and make it easier to prioritize the best ideas.
It was a very jam-packed day of summer camp! Here are some takeaways for you:
Be curious and dive into new areas for ideation!
Focus on the big waves and impactful solutions.
Find ways to push your creativity efficiently by using Miro Boards.
Cold call potential connections to seek opportunities for yourself and your impactful solutions.
What a great third week of Summer of Impact! We can’t wait to see you for LAST Week of Summer of Impact: Week 4 - Spark Your Story! Want to join us live? It’s not too late! Click here to register if you haven’t already!
Who joined us this week?
Ryan Holmes
Ryan Holmes, founder of Hootsuite, is a Canadian computer programmer and internet entrepreneur. He is famously known as the founder and CEO of Hootsuite, a social media management tool for businesses with more than 18 million users. He began developing Hootsuite in 2008 through his agency, Invoke Media. He is also the founder of League of Innovators, a charity with the goal of building entrepreneurial acumen for youth, from discovery to acceleration.
The Knowledge Society (TKS)
Kim Parnell,The Knowledge Society (TKS) Director, is a serial entrepreneur that has been involved in a wide variety of ventures - from organizing conferences & events to TV hosting & production to founding, and later successfully exiting, a commercial cleaning company. Kim’s most recent venture was co-founding the data architecture startup Truebase. Using the internally developed, open-source data notation “Truth”, Truebase works with many different types of companies across Canada, the US and Australia, to create highly structured data models in the form of ontologies. These ontologies are used to power various business systems such as knowledge graphs, semantic networks, intuitive search, recommendation engines and various machine learning models. Kim loves working with creative & curious individuals, specifically, the young ambitious ones. She has served as an entrepreneurship coach for organizations such as YES (youth entrepreneurship arm) and as a mentor to the startup incubator, Founder Institute. She works closely with educational institutions like Georgian College (Big Data Analytics Program) as an industry advisor and helps provide students with real-world project experience. She is a frequent speaker on technology topics and shares much of her entrepreneurial journey on her various social media accounts.
Selina Liu, TKS innovator and researcher,is a 17 year old researcher and innovator diving deep into the intersection of brain-computer interfaces, neurological diseases, and genetic engineering! She is pursuing her Honours Bachelor of Science at The University of Toronto and has recently created Anthozoas, a moonshot company with the mission to genetically engineer coral zygotes to be resistant to the effects of rising water temperatures. She is currently a lead researcher at Medicine4Youth and an event coordinator at Youth Medical Action Potential.
Astha Dhyani, TKS innovator and researcher, is a 16 year old innovator and researcher in the field of neuroscience and brain-computer interfaces. She has consulted for companies and organizations such as Instacart and the United Nations, and has worked on developing her own moonshot company called Revalysis, which aims to reverse spinal-cord injury induced paralysis through gene therapy and antibodies. She is currently working with OpenBCI’s ganglion board to control laptops through her brainwaves, as well as working towards getting her I.B. Diploma at Harold M. Brathwaite Secondary School.
Uma Darbha, TKS innovator and researcher, is a 17 year-old neuroscience nerd, and is currently researching a section of neuroscience called Optogenetics. In the past, she has worked on projects like using piezoelectric materials to harness energy from earthquakes, and she has also been a student researcher at a couple neuroscience labs across North America since 2020. She is currently super interested in how we can use optogenetics to examine the human “consciousness” in terms of metacognition and memory! You can check out her portfolio here.
Leah Coss
Leah Coss, founder of Build a Biz, is on a mission to change the way we value people in society starting with the way we educate our youth. To prepare today’s kids for a future filled with Artificial Intelligence, Technology and Ongoing Change, she has built platforms and education methodologies that promote the development of Essential Human Skill Development in children and youth.
Get Connected on Facebook
The League of Innovators’s Youth Entrepreneurship Community allows you to connect with others, network, and be involved with a supportive community!
We'll share resources all week on Facebook and reminders for our Innovation Challenge - submissions are due August 5! Join the group here!
Mentorship Session
Attend live sessions happening on Thursdays at 2pm PST with fellow peers and learn straight from entrepreneurs to support your journey. You can expect all the mentors to share their experiences and knowledge with you as well as expand on specific topics or challenges that you may encounter.
Week 2 was all about sparking change. This means identifying and finding problems that you are passionate about and using that passion as your entrepreneurial direction for your venture. Kelly Lovell, CEO of BridingTheGap Ventures, spoke about choosing your own path and adventure and being able to self-reflect on what problems you are connected to to build not your elevator pitch but your “passion pitch”! In order to identify problems, Kelly introduced the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to discover which impact ecosystem you may belong to!
Workshops took place with different people and organizations to discuss and discover different social issues that you may be interested in. First batch of workshops covered social issues that will help you identify what problems you are curious and passionate about, including Gender Equality, Conscious Consumerism, Neurodiversity, and Activism. The second round of workshops covered personal and professional development.
Funding Your Post-Secondary Journey and Creating Meaningful Initiatives - Leyton Vergeire, Student Account Manager and Lead Mentor at GrantMe, Madeleine Golubev, Head of Community at GrantMe
What a great week 2 of Summer of Impact! We can’t wait to see you for Week 3 - Spark Ideas and Generate Radical Ideas! Want to join us live? Click here to register if you haven’t already!
Kelly is a 19-time award-winning young entrepreneur passionate about bridging opportunity gaps to prepare young people for the future of work and solve global challenges. She’s a 3-time TEDx speaker, a Top 30 Under 30 Sustainability Leader and Queen's Young Leader—a prestigious honour bestowed by Her Majesty QEII that recognizes exceptional young leaders under 30 creating a legacy of impact.
“It’s less about what you’re doing and more about what you stand for and why you’re doing it” - Kelly Lovell
Sophia Yang
Sophia Yang, Founder & Executive Director of Threading Change, a youth-led ethical fashion organization working at the intersections of climate, gender, and racial justice in alignment with the necessary transition to a circular economy. Originally born in China but raised in Calgary, Alberta, Sophia draws on her multitude of diverse work and volunteer experiences as the drivers for her holistic approach and perspective on the protection of our environment. As a dedicated climate justice changemaker, Sophia has worked for over a dozen environmental organizations ranging from federal government agencies (Parks Canada, Natural Resources Canada), NGOs (Nature Conservancy of Canada, SPEC, Parkbus, CityHive), industry (CNRL), and academia (UBC, SFU).
Viability Team
Eliana, Co-founder and Chair of Viability is a third-year student at the University of Toronto with a background in Peace, Conflict & Justice, Psychology and Linguistics. She is passionate about neurodiversity, mental health, and accessibility. As a co-founder and the current Chair of Viability, Eliana hopes to empower neurodivergent youth and work with them and community stakeholders to co-create brighter and more just futures. Eliana is also currently working on two additional projects: one which focuses on accessibility and student rights, and another which centres around neurodiversity and employment. Eliana brings her lived experience with neurodiversity and disability when advocating for systems change and ultimately hopes to create more spaces where neurodivergent youth can live as their authentic selves and thrive. Outside of work and school, Eliana likes travelling, hiking, art, plants, and cooking (or at least is trying to - don't be afraid to reach out and share your favourite recipes with her!)
Vale Patterson, program facilitator at Viability is a third-year premedical student at the University of Toronto double majoring in Neuroscience and Psychology. He uses his experiences with autism, CPTSD, and dissociation as well as his art background to do educational content creation, webinars, graphic design, and program facilitation for Viability. He is an advocate for the autonomy and mental health of neurodivergent people and is passionate about the neurodivergency paradigm and biopsychosocial models being more incorporated into the health field. In addition to this, he also likes drawing, reading, cooking, and translating
Annanya Jain, UX Team at Viability is a 3rd-year student majoring in Psychology and minoring in Sexuality, Marriage and Family studies. She is a strong mental advocate in her community and draws upon her experience with ADHD, G.A.D and panic disorder. At Viability, Annanya helps members secure employment, co-leads social programming and is part of the UX team for Viability's upcoming exciting project. In her free time, you would probably find her watching anime, playing video games and writing poetry. Annanya loves continuous learning so if you want to see what you can learn from each other, she's always open for a conversation.
Ravina C Anand
Ravina C Anand, COO of FLIK is a social-tech entrepreneur and the COO of FLIK, a female-identifying mentorship portal. In a hyper globalized world, Ravina aims to advance women’s economic participation and help women from remote and underserved communities. With experience in municipal politics and community advocacy, she promotes diversity by encouraging people to fight injustices and challenge stereotypes. On a global level, Ravina advocates for women and creates conversations around the trends and procurement for scaling social innovation situated in inclusivity, diversity, and equity.
Harjas Grewal
Harjas Grewal, founder of United Women, a platform to connect and empower BIPOC youth. She is also the Global Social Impact & Activism Associate Manager at DECIEM | The Abnormal Beauty Company. Harjas is an activist whose career has taken her to the United Nations General Assembly, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, and more to advocate for real change. Her expertise is social impact, activism, and human rights.
Mylene Tu
Mylene Tu, Founder of Lumaki Labs, is a social impact-driven student entrepreneur studying Management Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Currently, she is the CEO of Lumaki Labs- an EdTech startup on a mission to fill the gaps of education through impactful internships. Prior to Lumaki Labs, she ran an organization geared towards empowering young women in STEM and has been recognized as a Woman of Inspiration by the Universal Women's Network. Outside of school and work, Mylene enjoys running, painting for her Etsy shop, and playing the ukulele.
Grant Me Team
Leyton Vergeire, Student Account Manager and Lead Mentor at GrantMe.In high school, Leyton knew he wanted to be a healthcare worker; but this desire was too vague for him to identify his exact passion. While Leyton adores the technical side of healthcare, he also knew he wanted to be more invested with his future patients and their families. Leyton discovered a sub-discipline of oncology called radiation therapy that blends both aspects of healthcare, and knew this was the perfect fit for him. Leyton currently attends the University of Alberta, Honors Physiology, for Pre-Radiation Therapy. As Leyton is passionate about helping students navigate their post-secondary journey, he is also a lead mentor and Student Account Manager at GrantMe!
Madeleine Golubev, Head of Community at GrantMe works with organizations and schools across Canada to set up workshops/events that help students navigate the post-secondary process. As well, she leads GrantMe's Mentorship/Ambassador programs and develops curriculum workshops for GrantMe students. Madeleine is passionate about helping students reach their goals and feel empowered about their futures!
Graydon Lawson
Graydon Lawson, Founder of Reduce Waste Now, a social enterprise that provides sustainable alternatives to everyday products. Graydon’s easy and actionable ways to reduce waste have led him to be featured on Subaru’s Drive Magazine, and to speak at Marvell Semiconductor’s annual Go Green Expo. He’s currently attending the University of Victoria pursuing a degree in economics.
Social Reset Team
Jake Bradshaw, Co-founder of Social Reset is a recent graduate of Queen's University where he studied Politics, Philosophy & Economics. Ever since his own struggle with depression and anxiety he has been passionate about mental health advocacy. Jake has advocated for mental health through public speaking, writing and community organizing alongside a variety of organizations. Recently Jake co-founded The Social Reset, an organization that is working to address the mental health crisis by helping young Canadians cultivate healthy relationships with social media.
Joey Florence, Education Director at Social Reset, graduated from Ryerson University with a Bachelors of Arts with a specification in Psychology and Sociology and is on a mission to teach students how to cultivate healthy relationships with social media. Joey’s previous research has focused on the effects of social influencers on behaviours (such as eco-friendliness), and has now shifted to incorporate social media’s influence on mental health - as he is passionate about healthy living and experiencing life for today!
Get Connected on Facebook
The League of Innovators’s Youth Entrepreneurship Community allows you to connect with others, network, and be involved with a supportive community!
We'll share resources all week on Facebook and reminders for our Innovation Challenge - submissions are due August 5!
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Mentorship Session
Live sessions with fellow peers and learn straight from entrepreneurs to support your journey. You can expect all the mentors to share their experiences and knowledge with you as well as expand on specific topics or challenges that you may encounter.
Swish Goswami, 24, is the CEO of Trufan, an audience engagement platform helping brands generate, segment and activate first and third party data. His company has made two acquisitions, raised over $4.1M to date (from several NBA players and venture firms) and has clients like Sony Music, Netflix, NBA, NFL, Procter & Gamble and a plethora of small to medium sized businesses.Swish has given three TEDx talks, secured a publishing deal with Kogan Page and a sneaker deal with K-Swiss, and set up an angel fund called AGEX Capital. Through AGEX, he is an advisor/investor in popular social companies like Upstream, FaZe Clan and Ashare. Swish has a personal following of over 200,000 and enjoys speaking around the world under North America’s prestigious bureau Speakers Spotlight. For his entrepreneurial and philanthropic achievements, Swish was inducted into Plan Canada's Top 20 under 20 and Bay Street Bull’s 30 under 30, recognized as LinkedIn’s Top Voice and Startup Canada's Young Entrepreneur of the Year and awarded the United Nation’s Outstanding Youth Leadership award
Yamila Franco
Yamila was born and raised in the Dominican Republic. As a proud Afro-Indigenous entrepreneur, she co-founded Nyoka Design Labs, a clean technology social enterprise focused on leveraging advances in sustainable biotechnology and material sciences to bring eco-friendly, clean & innovative products to market. Her role has recently shifted to focus on strategy, scaling impact initiatives and laying the base foundation to build sustainable social enterprises. In her journey, Yamila also co-founded AfroHub Market, an e-commerce and networking platform which focuses on supporting the local community of entrepreneurs of African Descent in British Columbia and actively works as a financial literacy educator and strategist supporting entrepreneurs in navigating financial systems and establishing healthy financial habits. Yamila enjoys being and learning with the community, advocating for financial literacy and inclusion & volunteering to create safer and more inclusive spaces for all.
"My goal is to raise more leaders in the community so we can break cycles of intergenerational poverty, create more opportunities for leadership & building sustainability at different levels of community and business"
Simran Dhillon
Simran Dhillon is a student at the University of Alberta studying psychology within the faculty of science and exploring facets of advocacy, community engagement, research, and innovation. Simran’s experience utilizing her advocacy and passion for innovation and entrepreneurship has placed her on public platforms including a conference held at the United Nations headquarters in NYC, in front of city hall, a TEDx event, channelled through her local newspaper, through serving her university, and an invitation to the 2020 Peace Summit at the UN centre in Thailand. For the past year, Simran has dedicated herself to entrepreneurship and her innovative start-up FentaGone; FentaGone’s mission is to reduce the amount of fentanyl-related overdoses occurring on the street level. Her team has received $10,000 worth of initial funding by winning the World's Challenge, through the Global Education program at the University of Alberta. Most notably, FentaGone garnered the support of Telus and Alberta Innovates by winning first place at the Telus Innovation Challenge earlier this year where they received $120,000 worth of financial support and ongoing mentorship and support by these affluent organizations. Simran and her team are currently in the process of verifying their design through research collaborations with two labs located at the University of Alberta specializing in biochemical and opioid-related research. Simran’s experience advocating, outreaching and learning from her community has inspired an immense motivation for entrepreneurship and to innovate to create a brighter future for all.
“Almost a year ago, I was in your position listening to Swish talk and now we are on the same panel” - Simran
James Lau
James Lau is a Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) certified personal development coach whose passion is to build a tribe of high performing dreamers. He had been trained under coaches who’ve worked closely with world-renowned leaders in the personal development space like Mindvalley, Tom Bilyeu and Tony Robbins. Quickly after graduation, he became one of the youngest mentors at the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade.
Since founding Apologue in 2018, James has impacted the lives of over a thousand students through his signature workshops and seminars in South East Asia and North America. He works with millennials around the world to navigate and change the way they look at their lives and their future. One of his latest achievements is the launch of Apologue's mentorship program - The Growth Accelerator Program, which currently has a 100% success rate in helping students land summer/full time opportunities.
James Lau - Apologue’s Signature Purpose Workshop
Apologue's signature Purpose workshop helps young adults around the world to take that first step in better identifying their purpose so that they can accelerate their growth and live a more fulfilling life. This hands-on workshop will equip you with a game plan that will guide you as you move into different chapters in life.
Discover what you feel connected to, and dive into your values and goals
Cool Panel
The Future of Entrepreneurship
How the world of entrepreneurship is changing and how it shows up in the future work
what it means to democratize entrepreneurship
The importance of being a mission-driven entrepreneur
Breakout Rooms
What is your takeaway?
What does entrepreneurship mean to you?
How can it show up in your life?
Interactive Workshop with James Lau, Apologue
Finding your “why”
Self reflection workshop to identify your why, problems you feel connected to, and think about your values and goals
James ran the Purpose Workshop during the session and the Growth Accelerator Program was developed after interviewing over 100 students asking them what they really need. This is our most complete mentorship/coaching program designed to help young adults to develop themselves personally and professionally. It has three pillars - community, accountability and coaching which allows students to overcome pitfalls and leverage opportunities by elevating their growth and building strong relationships with industry professionals. We are currently at a 100% success rate in helping students land opportunities (summer and fulltime!)
Mentorship Session
Live sessions with fellow peers and learn straight from entrepreneurs to support your journey. You can expect all the mentors to share their experiences and knowledge with you as well as expand on specific topics or challenges that you may encounter.
VANCOUVER, B.C., June 28, 2021 - League of Innovators (LOI) will host its National Impact Innovation Challenge for aspiring youth entrepreneurs this summer. The challenge focuses on entrepreneurs solving big social and environmental issues through their business with 3 categories to compete in: Aspiring, Growth, and Non-Profit Entrepreneurs. Contestants will pitch their startup and startup ideas for a chance to win cash, mentorship, legal support and coaching to boost their startup. Candidates of this challenge must be a Canadian resident and should have at least half of its founding team be under 25 years of age. These young entrepreneurs are building a social impact venture through introducing a new service, product, idea or approach that commits to a social, environmental, and economic advancement or introducing a venture that addresses one of the UN’s sustainable development goals.
“With many social and environmental impacts through business surfacing to mainstream discourse, entrepreneurs are now stepping up to raise the bar and make a real difference through their work. The Innovation Challenge helps young changemakers validate their unique ideas, gain access to a national network of resources and mentors, and gives them the confidence to work on tangible solutions to personal, economic and social issues” says Manisha Narula, Director of Community Impact & Strategy.
How can these individuals set themselves apart from other founders building businesses? With a variety of educational programs, LOI has given eager go-getters an opportunity to take charge of their future and recognize the power they hold as innovators and entrepreneurs in the ever-evolving economy. The Impact Innovation Challenge is no different and delivers game-changing resources, tools, and experiences while challenging and testing the young innovators business ideas and solutions to well known industry leaders and professionals.
As exciting or terrifying it might be, the Innovation Challenge may be the next step for any business to take to gain attention and traction into their specified industry. This challenge can give entrepreneurs valuable exposure they need to build and accelerate their business while enhancing their communication and people skills. This event will provide opportunities for entrepreneurs to network with other entrepreneurs, connect with mentors and investors, pitch their big ideas and learn about resources that are available to them. The challenge and prizes are made possible by partners such as SAP, RBC, Hootsuite, and Osler.
“Participating in the LOI Summer Camp and Innovation Challenge gave me and my team confidence, support, and access to an invaluable network! This was so critical especially during a time as isolating as the pandemic it has been so great to feel supported by a community like LOI!” said Samantha Gardner, First Place winner of Impact Innovation Challenge 2020.
The public will have the opportunity to apply for this challenge until 11:59 pm. on August 5, 2021. Finalists will be confirmed by August 12 and will be given pitch training and guidelines before the final pitch event on August 24 at 3p.m. PST. Visit the website to determine which category is the best fit and apply for the Impact Innovation Challenge.
About League of Innovators
League of Innovators (LOI) is a Canadian charity with a goal of building entrepreneurial acumen for youth 15-25 years old to be their own bosses in life and career. The charity founded in 2017 by Ryan Holmes, Founder and CEO of Hootsuite, has worked with over 10,000 youth to discover entrepreneurship and supported 480 young entrepreneurs in their pursuit of their entrepreneurial visions LOI is delivers accessible programs and tools to provide youth educational experiences that shorten their path to success, empower their ability to be their own boss, and amplify their impact as future innovators and entrepreneurs.
The League of Innovators’ (LOI) hosted their celebratory Founders Showcase event with young entrepreneurs leading a diverse array of startups from agri-food, medical technology, work from home software, ecommerce enablement technology, accessories to AI. Founders from the League of Innovators Labs accelerator pitched their businesses to panellists for feedback to fuel the fire of their game changing startups.
