Secondary school students from the Golden Triangle area competed for the opportunity to spend three days of intense mentorship in the field of business and entrepreneurship at the University of Waterloo.
For the past 13 years, Camp Enterprise, sponsored by the Rotary Clubs in Guelph, Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Fergus, and Elora, has provided students insights on how to run a successful business
Local Rotarian Brent Barr led the students through the development of a business plan, which they in turn put to use in designing plans for their own new businesses.
The first speaker, Tim Ellis, director of operations at the Accelerator Centre, in Waterloo, set the tone for the camp as he outlined the centre’s success in assisting young entrepreneurs in the region to build their businesses.
Other topics handled by many Rotarians speaking from their own experience included: communications, team building, effective selling, business ethics, marketing, networking, negotiations and importance of community involvement.
"I think Camp Enterprise was a great event for anyone hoping to grow their knowledge of business and entrepreneurship. The negotiations activity forced me to view management-labour relations from a different perspective." said Alexandra Miller, St. John’s Kilmarnock student, who was selected to attend.
Locally, the Rotary Clubs of Guelph, Guelph-Wellington, Trillium and Guelph South sponsored a total of 20 students from CCVI, GCVI, JFRoss, St. James, Lourdes, Bishop Mac and St. John’s Kilmarnock.
Rotary is a community based organization committed to assisting youth develop vocational awareness.