Written By: Celine Duenas

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!

Missed this week's Summer Impact? Here’s a recap! 

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. 

1. Get used to a lot of “no’s”
2. Know when to be scrappy and when to spend
3. 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! 

Missed this week's Summer Impact? Here’s a recap! 

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.  

Click here to join the Mentorship hour! 

Don’t forget to check out the mentorship guide here! 

Thanks for joining us this week! See you next week!

Missed this week's Summer Impact? Here’s a recap! 

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. 

Discovering Social Issues Workshops

• Conscious Consumerism - Sophia Yang, founder of Threading Change
• Neurodiversity 101 - Eliana, Co-founder and Chair of Viability, Vale Patterson, program facilitator at Viability, Annanya Jain, UX Team at Viability
• Gender Equality - Ravina C Anand, COO of FLIK
• Entrepreneurship & Activism - Harjas Grewal, founder of United Women

Developing Personally and Professionally Workshops 

• Navigating Internships & Experiential Learning - Mylene Tu, Founder of Lumaki Labs
• 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
• Sustainable Living: How to Make an Impact on an Individual Level - Graydon Lawson, Founder of Reduce Waste Now
• The Social Reset: How to Cultivate Social Media Habits - Jake Bradshaw, Co-founder of Social Reset, Joey Florence, Education Director at Social Reset

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!

Who joined us this week? 

Kelly Lovell

Kelly Lovell, CEO BridgingTheGap Ventures and Founding Global Chair, YOUNGA Forum

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!

How to join:

• Join the group here!

Answer the questions that appear in order for us to approve your request:

• Enter Eventbrite confirmation OR e-mail used to sign up 
• Confirm you are between the age of 14-25

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. 

Click here to join the Mentorship hour! 

Don’t forget to check out the mentorship guide here! 

Thanks for joining us this week! See you next week!

Missed this week's Summer Impact? Here’s a recap! 

Who joined us this week? 

Swish Goswami 

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.

More info + application form here! 

LOI students can get a special discounted rate at only USD500 for the entire year. (USD$1800 original pricing)

Don’t forget to check out the toolkit here! 

What did you miss?

Big Themes 

• The origins of entrepreneurship
• Why impact entrepreneurs do what they do
• 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. 

Click here to join the Mentorship hour! 

Don’t forget to check out the mentorship guide here! 

Reflection Question 

What’s your reason for being a changemaker and who do you feel inspired by? 

What can you take away from this week’s Summer of Impact? 

• Inspiration to get started on your journey as an entrepreneur and changemaker 
• Understand yourself, values, skills, and more
• Discover why you want to pursue entrepreneurship

Here are some words of encouragement

“That passion is going to be what keeps you going. Obstacles are hard to triumph but passion is what helps you to overcome it.” - Simran 

“I had to work on my mindset to be open and find people to help me solve problems” - Yamila 

“To be happy, you must practice gratitude” - James 

“Just because you are good at starting something doesn’t mean you are good at managing people. These are things I had to learn on the fly.” - Swish 

“It is not about you knowing how to do everything, it is about surrounding yourself with the right people and giving yourself grace.” - Jeremy 

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!

How to join:

• Join the group here!

Answer the questions that appear in order for us to approve your request:

• Enter Eventbrite confirmation OR e-mail used to sign up 
• Confirm you are between the age of 14-25

Want to join us live? It’s not too late to sign up and join us weekly. Click here to register!

Can’t wait to see you next week for Week 2: Spark Change!